Night of the Dying MacGyver
by poxelda
Summary: An early start for Halloween. Mac and Jack come home to a grisly momento tacked to Mac's door. What does it have to do with his old EOD squad? Will they be able to keep Mac alive until Halloween? Hurt/Comfort, mystery. Warning for language/ violence.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everybody! Not sure if you noticed, but my favorite holiday is Halloween so I decided to get an early jump on a Mac story for the occasion. Sorry, but Rabbit is dead. May he rest in pieces (insert maniacal guffaw). Without further ado-

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Mac coughed and blew his nose. He could feel Jack look at him from across the car. He wiped his nose and shoved the tissue into his pocket.

"What?"

"I told you to take your medications." Mac rolled his eyes then winced. His headache was spiking again. Mac pulled his jacket closer. It had been raining on and off since they got back from Jamaica.

"It's a virus, antibiotics won't do anything…" Mac paused to sneeze. He closed his eyes feeling like a hammer smashed him in the middle of the head. He pulled out another tissue and blew his nose again. He winced. His nostrils were red and cracking. Jack's face changed from annoyance and worry to plain worry.

"Only you could pick up a plague from Jamaica." Mac glared at his partner as they drew close to his home.

"It's only a cold, Jack, not the black death."  
"Sure that's what you say now, but in two days…" Mac rolled his eyes sniffing.

"I'm not going to die on Halloween."

"Yeah that's what Camp Crystal Lake thought-" Jack's voice trailed off as they pulled into Mac's drive. Mac blinked and met Jack's gaze. Jack leaned forward and pulled out his Barretta his eyes roving the dark.

Tacked to Mac's door was a bloody body in army uniform. A flyer flapped from his chest held in by a long handled bloody dagger.

"A prank?" Mac asked his scratchy throat cracking in the middle. Jack slowly eased from the GTO.

"Sure absolutely, stay here." Jack glanced down at his partner, "I mean it." Jack stepped out and softly closed his door. Mac climbed out from his side of the car. Jack glared at him, "Dammit, Mac. One of these days you'll listen to me or be dead." Mac scanned the darkness turning on the flashlight he'd taken from Jack's glove box.

"You'd have the biggest I told you so in history." Mac whispered.

"Not funny." Jack growled as he stepped toward the front door. Mac caught his arm. Jack pulled free and opened his mouth to chew his partner out when he saw a familiar look on Mac's face, "Bomb?"

"Let me check." Jack watched as Mac leaned in closer and studied the stoop closely. He looked back and shook his head. Jack stepped closer. He breathed out a sigh of relief.

"It's fake." The face of the body was blank plastic. Jack turned at Mac's sudden intake of breath.

"Jack, back up." He whispered. Jack's heart jumped.

"A bomb?" Mac moved to Jack's side his back to the body. Jack didn't like how pale Mac suddenly became. Mac looked like he was going to puke.

"Worse." Mac pointed at the feet of the body. Jack jumped back with a startled yelp. Two Jack O'lanterns flickered light spookiness over a bloody human skull with two human severed hands on either side of it. Jack knew at first glance it was real. No one could fake the bullet hole in the center of the skull's forehead. Jack glanced around them one more time then grabbed Mac by the elbow and shoved him toward the GTO. For once, Mac didn't complain. Mac stared at his house sniffling. He shivered. Jack absently kicked the heat up as he drove away. Mac sneezed and pulled out another tissue. Jack eyed him as he pulled out his phone.

"Yeah, Matty? Someone got an early start on Halloween this year…"

Mac sat hunched over a cup of steaming tea his jacket pulled around him. He took a sip and closed his eyes. He felt like shit. He looked up as Matty walked into the war room. Jack in full TAC gear followed. He was in full Delta mode, his eyes constantly roving taking in every corner and movement. Bozer and Riley ran in behind them.

"Mac! You ok?" Bozer's eyes were wide, his speech fast. He sat beside Mac and put a hand on his shoulder. Mac half turned and sneezed into a tissue. He shoved it into a little baggy he'd been giving. He pulled out another pair from the massive box Matty had given him.

" 'm K, Boze." Mac said his voice congested. Bozer leaned back.

"I have to deal with a sick Angus on top of a dead body tacked to our front door?" Mac laughed then broke off coughing. Riley brushed Mac's hair back. She could easily feel the sweat and fever. Riley looked up worried.

"You look like shit, brother." Jack said crouching in front of Mac. Mac sniffed turning to Matty.

"You find out who our dead guy was?" Matty stared at Mac a long minute as if deciding something. Her lips pursed and she nodded at Riley. Who worked her laptop a long minute.

"Mac, do you know this man?" Mac's breath hitched.

"That's Frosty." Mac whispered his voice cracking.

"As in the snowman?" Bozer asked. Mac stood up and walked to the giant picture of the military ID Riley had put up on the screen.

"Darren Mitchell, EOD-" Riley looked at Mac. Mac ducked his head and ran his hand over his forehead.

"He was the head of my first EOD unit." Mac sneezed and turned away blowing his nose. The others waited in silence. Mac wiped his nose. Jack crossed to the kid and put a hand on his shoulder.

"You were friends?" Mac sighed. His shoulders slumped.

"No one was ever friends with Mitchell, that's the reason we called him Frosty. Other than Peña and Charlie...he was the best." Mac sniffed, "I hadn't seen him in years...and we never hung out or anything…" Mac ran a hand through his hair then ploppd back on the couch beside Bozer. He leaned forward rubbing his face. Everyone in the room could hear his raspy breathing. He turned to Jack.

"Did you find anything else?" Jack huffed and sat across from Mac and looked at Riley.

"There wasn't any sign of anyone going inside." Riley said.

"None of our neighbors saw anything, not even Mrs. Mason. Although she was going to report us for going too far with our decorations." Mac snorted then sneezed three times in a row. He pulled out a handful tissue and blew his nose. Matty crossed to him and pulled a paper in a flat evidence bag out of a thin folder. Mac took it from her.

It was a flyer for a haunted house. It looked like it was printed by a high school kid. The paper was an ugly green with wide black letters that read, "House of Horrors, open one night, come...if you dare." Below the title a rough outline of a grim reaper looked over his shoulder grinning at the reader a bent finger daring the reader to follow. Mac blinked as if the paper was out of focus. The others exchanged a worried look. Mac was getting sicker and sicker. Mac saw the look and rolled his eyes.

"This is tomorrow night, from 7-13:00." He stood up wiping his nose. He studied the others. Before he could say a word, Jack grabbed his arm and whirled him around. Mac wobbled. Jack's eyes widened.

"No way are you going, we're going to storm the place." Mac opened his mouth and turned away sneezing, "Besides you're sick as a dog."

"Jack's right. Riley, you and Bozer see what's up with the EOD connection. Jack we'll go over plans for the raid after you take this germ factory home." Mac glared at Matty. The effect was softened by his tired puffy puppy eyes.

"My home is still a crime scene." Mac tried to snap back, but his voice trailed off into a coughing fit. Matty rolled her eyes and nodded her head at Jack. Jack grinned and grabbed Mac by the shoulders. Mac tried to pull away but Jack dug his fingers in.

"Jack, SH-tango, tango 5. Take Alpha and Zulu with you." Jack nodded putting an arm across Mac's shoulder.

"I don't want to go to a safe house." Jack smiled at the adolescent wine in Mac's voice.

"I know, buddy, I want to take you to my place too, but you'll be on your own tomorrow night." Mac wiped his nose looking even more pathetic. Jack squeezed him close, a quick gesture of reassurance.

"Can you imagine two TAC teams in my apartment? Don't worry, brother, I'll keep you safe. Besides you need the rest." Jack opened the door to the GTO. Mac sighed and slid into the passenger seat without arguing. Jack frowned, worried that Mac felt sick enough he didn't argue.


	2. Chapter 2

"Mac?" Mac snorted and jerked awake. He blinked confused. Jack patted his chest and leaned back. Mac rubbed his eyes and frowned.

"Wh-?" Mac yawned. He sat up straight and groaned rubbing the crick in his neck. He opened his mouth to ask a question, but sneeze instead. Jack chuckled and handed him a tissue.

"It's ok, brother. We're at the safe house, I didn't want to carry you inside." Mac managed a smile.

"Thanks for that." Mac took in the house. It was a simple clapboard building with boarded windows in the middle of an unkempt lawn. The neighborhood around it looked old and worn but every house hat lit windows. Mac coughed and climbed out of the GTO. He shivered and pulled his leather coat closer. His breath steamed in the air.

Jack grabbed his elbow and guided him toward the side of the house. Mac stumbled over clumps of grass and debris.

"Package is in the nest. Alpha you're on." Mac glanced over. Jack shoved his phone back in his pocket and juggled a paper bag in his grip. Mac blinked at him.

"We stopped at the pharmacy?" Jack rolled his eyes.

"Dude, it took us almost an hour to get out here." Mac stumbled sideways and would have if Jack didn't catch his elbow.  
"Whoa, easy dude." Mac rubbed his eyes and shook his head.

"Did Riley find anything?" Jack tapped on the door twice.

"Why don't you ask her?" Mac nodded and stumbled into the house. Mac was glad he couldn't smell anything. Like every other safe house he'd ever been in, the safe house was tobacco stained and grimy. The furniture was older than Mac was. As he entered, Mac changed his mind.

"Hey, roomie, took long enough." Mac frowned.

"But you were supposed to be helping Riley." Bozer chuckled and put a hand on Mac's shoulder.

"Dude, that was hours ago." Mac looked at Jack confused. Jack turned away pulling out his phone. Mac thought back to the quick side hug, his shoulders dropped.

"You drugged me?" Mac asked. He whirled on Jack who glanced at Mac then ended his call.

"Now, brother, before you get yourself in a twist…"

"YOU DRUGGED ME? What the hell, Jack? How could-" Mac broke off into coughing. Jack glared at Bozer who shrugged. Jack walked Mac into the living room.

"I'll have your soup ready in ten minutes." Bozer called after them.

Riley sat cross legged on a wooden table. Matty paced, phone in her ear. Mac froze in mid step. A large flat screen on one wall showed a circle of military ID's. Mac recognized everyone in the photos. It was his entire first EOD. Mac staggered back dizzy. Jack walked him to a long orange and green couch and sat him down. Mac started coughing. Jack patted him on the back and handed him a large box of tissues.

"Easy, partner." Jack said softly plopping into the hideous couch beside Mac. Mac leaned forward and blew his nose.

"What did Doc Carl say?" Mac's head snapped up.

"You took me to medical?" His voice rose to a squeak.

"You don't think we'd drug you for nothing do you?" Jack tried in a soothing voice. Mac glared at him.

"I didn't think you'd drug me at all." Mac said leaning his head in his palms.

"He's got a point there, Jack." Riley said without looking up.

"Thank you, Riley." Mac grumbled.

"Don't get all high and mighty, it was your idea." Jack snapped. Mac glanced over at Riley with betrayal. She frowned and kept her head down.

"Yes, Mac, we slipped you a mickey…"

"Hey, at least it wasn't a roofie." Jack murmured. Mac glared at him.

"Mac, we had to get you here safely." Matty said stepping forward. Her voice softened. She put a hand on Mac's shoulder and gave the blonde a soft smile.

"You had to go to medical and we didn't have time to fight you." Matty explained. Mac glared at her. She smiled and patted his cheek.

"Sorry, blondy." Mac huffed and rubbed his forehead.

"We'll discuss this later." Mac hissed quietly, "When my head isn't going to fall off." Jack went to put an arm around his partner. Mac glared at him. Jack lowered his arm and nodded.

"Fair enough. Doc Carl said it's viral…"

"I told you that!"

"Bronchitis turning into pneumonia. He gave Mac an IV…"

"A what?" Mac turned his head, his face reddening as he shoved up his sleeve and rubbed a band aid inside his elbow.

"Said he was dehydrated and gave him a couple of shots…"

"A couple of WHAT?" Mac stood up his hands balled into fists. He whirled on his partner dragging in ragged breaths, "How could...you?" Mac swayed. Jack reached up and tugged Mac back down to the couch. Mac sneezed three times. Jack absently handed Mac the box of tissue.

"He'll sleep good tonight." Jack summed up. Jack looked at Mac worried, "Mac, I know you're pissed, but you've been really sick and you haven't gotten better since Jamaica. Would you have gone with me to medical without a fight?" Mac opened his mouth only to snap it closed with a huff of frustration. He turned back to Matty and leaned back crossing his arms across his chest.

"What's all this?" Mac asked his eyes traveling the circle of military IDs. He hadn't been with them long, but had been accepted as soon as he joined them. Other than when Peña asked for him, Mac had never been welcomed into any group of...well anybody. Mac rubbed his head. His face felt like it was turning inside out.

Matty glanced at Jack. Mac sat straighter. He had a brick lodged in his gut.

"Are they all dead?" Mac whispered. The others shared an awkward look. Jack leaned forward and put a steady hand on Mac's shoulder. The edges of Mac's vision was cloudy. He felt like his brain was stuffed with cotton. Jack looked down. Mac reached out and grabbed his shoulder.

"Jack...what happened?" Mac's nose watered. He didn't turn away, "Jack?"

"Mac, look. They all...it was reported that…"  
"Mac, they all disappeared." Matty said. Mac turned to face her, his brow furrowed.

"And?" Jack smiled. Genius even when sick. His smile vanished and he looked at Matty.

"Mac, they think they all killed themselves." Mac leaned back.

"What? No, that's impossible." Mac broke off coughing and grabbed more tissues. Matty looked into Mac's eyes with sympathy.

"We're going to figure this out, ok? But our first priority is keeping you safe." Mac leaned back bringing a hand to his head. He closed his eyes totally unable to think.

"Here, bro, drink some of this." Mac squinted up at Bozer who held out a thermos. Mac closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Come on, kiddo." Mac turned to glare at Jack.

"Why? So you can drug me again?" His words cut through Jack. Jack turned away his eyes scorched with guilt.

"Mac…" Mac turned away and pushed the soup away. He leaned forward focused on Matty.

"What else do we know?" Matty narrowed her eyes and frowned. She shook her head and nodded at Riley.

"No one put all of the pieces together. Each one was investigated as probable suicides." Mac raised an eyebrow.

"Probable?"

"No bodies were discovered." Jack said. He nudged Mac's elbow with the thermos. Mac shrugged him away.

"All of them had left suicide notes and walked out of their lives."

"But ." Mac pinched his lip lost in thought. Jack again nudged him with the thermos. Mac brushed him aside.

"Talk to us, blondie. Who were these guys?" Mac shrugged wiping sweat off his forehead.

"Not much to tell. They were the first unit I was assigned to. We were stationed at Bagram. We swept the airfield and kept the area clear." Mac lifted tissues to his nose in time to catch a full-body sneeze. He winced as he wiped his nose. Jack nudged his elbow with the thermos. Mac absently took it and took a sip. He curled around the warm container. Jack grinned at Bozer who nodded back impressed.

"I was only there six months before the unit was disbanded." Mac sipped the soup and leaned forward inhaling the steam, closing his eyes, and smiled. Riley typed on her keyboard.

"I can't find any reports for the last month of the unit. I don't see any discharge papers for anyone, only transfer papers for you." Riley looked up, "There's a file about an operation Apple-pear just prior to the redacted month, but I don't have the clearance to read it." Matty narrowed her eyes.

"Did you use my clearance?"

"Didn't work." Riley said with a one-shoulder shrug.

"Well, do what you do." Matty said. Riley nodded and leaned over the keyboard.

"What do you remember about Apple-pear?" Matty asked Mac. Mac rubbed his eyes and set the empty thermos on the table in front of him. Bozer siddled to Jack's side. Jack handed him the thermos and Boze cocked an eyebrow. Jack glanced at Mac and shook his head. Bozer nodded and returned the thermos to the kitchen.

"We never went on any mission, it was all checking runways, buildings and luggage. He leaned forward groaning. He closed his eyes. Jack frowned knowing the signs of an oncoming migraine. Jack glanced at Matty. Matty shook her head. Jack's jaw jutted out. Matty doubled down with a glare.

"What do you know about the team?"

"There were 13 of us, they called me lucky 13 because I was the last one assigned." Mac rubbed his forehead and shook his head.

"I don't know anything." He murmured misery thick in his congested voice. Jack looked expectantly at Matty. Matty rolled her eyes and waved a hand. Jack smiled.

"That's ok, kiddo. We can talk about this more later. You need rest." Mac glared at his partner.

"I slept for hours, remember?" Jack sighed.

"I deserve that. I'm sorry, Mac, but you know I would never hurt you right?" Jack's eyes looked deep into Mac's eyes a pleading gleam in them. Mac sighed and nodded. Jack thought Mac agreed more out of exhaustion than conviction.

"I promise I'll make it up to you, ok?" Mac nodded closing his eyes.

"It's ok, Jack. I know you meant well…" Mac's voice vanished in a long wet coughing fit.

"Look, we'll has this out when I come back from the raid." Mac grabbed Jack's T shirt alarm in his eyes.

"You know it's a trap." Jack smiled and patted Mac's hand.

"I got this, ok? You're only job is to sleep and get better. We're going to need that beautiful brain of yours to figure this out." Mac's shoulders slumped. He rubbed his eyes.

"C'mon." Jack half-carried Mac to the bedroom in the back of the house. Mac staggered into the narrow hallway walls several times. Jack sat Mac on the frayed recliner in the corner of the simple bedroom. Mac sprawled back holding his head.

"Headache?" Jack asked as he pulled back the covers. He'd made sure there were extra quilts and pillows for Mac.

"I feel like shit." Mac grumbled. Jack frowned crossing to Mac's side. He crouched before the blonde.

"You look like it too."

"Thanks...jerk." Jack smiled. Bozer came in carrying a full pair of sweats, thick socks, a bottle of pills and a glass of water.

"Are you guys gonna be ok? Matty wants me to-"

"We're fine, Boze." Jack said taking the pile, "You feel up to a shower?" Mac gave Jack an are-you-kidding-me glare. Jack nodded and set down the clothes. He saw Mac's eyes zone in on the pills.

"Mac, they're for congestion. They'll help you sleep." Mac huffed curling forward in pain as he exploded into moist coughing. Mac groaned folding forward. He held up a hand to stop Jack from running to his side.

"I got it, Jack." Mac sat up. Jack didn't like how pale he was or the sweat beading along his forehead and curling his hair.

"Take the meds, ok?" Mac took a sip of water and glared at Jack over the rim of the glass.

"I will. All I want to do right now is sleep." Mac admitted with a sigh. Jack didn't miss Mac's hands shaking as the kid put the glass down.

"Promise?" Jack asked more for his own comfort than Mac's.

"What? Don't trust me?" Jack swallowed at the cold tone under Mac's congested barb.

"Not when it comes to your health, brother." Jack answered seriously. Mac sighed and nodded.

"Fine." He pulled out two pills and drank them down. He winced as he swallowed. Jack took a step forward.

"You gonna make sure I get dressed for bed to?" Jack paused and nodded.

"Ok, hop in, get some sleep."  
"Planning on it." Mac said shoving Jack out the door and closing it behind the older man.

Mac leaned against the door and let out a deep breath. He regretted it immediately as he broke into another string of coughs. Mac felt beaten flat, rolled up and set on fire. Mac dressed holding onto the recliner to keep from falling down. Mac flopped face first into the bed and tunneled into the pile of quilts and pillows. He turned on his side opening his mouth to breathe. Mac tried to think about the case. His head hurt too much. Mac pulled the covers tighter. He frowned. Why would a haunted house be open in the morning? It had to be a trap set just for Mac. Mac coughed softly as he drifted off. Luckily he'll be sleeping safe and sound so he couldn't fall into the trap. He'd have to tell Jack that, in the morning. Everything can wait for the morning.


	3. Chapter 3

"I hate this." Jack paced the narrow living room. His face was red with barely suppressed anger. He punched his right hand into his left palm wishing it was somebody's face.

"We all do." Matty reassured, "Riley, what do we know about this

house of horrors?"

"It is on a huge estate that was owned by somebody named Wendell Kells…"

"What? That's awesome!" Bozer and Jack said in unison. Their faces lit up and they burst into huge grins.

"Sleepy Hollow Green." They yelled at each other slapping a high five. Matty and Riley shared a look that was both frustrated and confused. Jack turned back to Matty, his face still harboring fanboy excitement.

"This would be so cool, if not for Mac…" Jack's face sank into worry again as he glanced at the door to Mac's room. Jack crossed and peeped into the cracked door. Mac toss and turned all night. The blankets and pillows got tossed across the room one after the other. Jack frowned as Mac mumbled then stilled. He turned away an anchor in his heart. Jack returned the group and listened to Bozer, any excitement quashed. Bozer's, however, was not. His voice was loud, his speech fast as he explained one of his favorite topics-films.

"Kells was a super cool dude...and totally insane. He was a pioneer in the direct to home market movies, mostly because they were deemed too violent and bloody by the MPAA. He was a visionary. Some of the things he managed with practical effects are still in use…"

"Bozer, if you're done fanboying maybe you could tell us about this estate."

"He was weird in his real life too. He made his house into a real-life haunted house. It drove his triplet daughters insane. They killed themselves in that house."

"After that it burned down. A few die hard fans tried to go through the ruins. Three died." Riley added paling. Matty nodded.

"Put up the map." Jack said around his bobbing Adam's apple. Bozer's eyes widened.

"That place must be so haunted." He whispered, his voice warbling in fear. Jack glanced over at him.

"Or cursed." Matty rolled her eyes turning to look at the flat screen.

"I don't care if it's the gates of hell itself we're going to get to the bottom of this."

"Damn right." Jack added his voice openly hostile.

"The estate is a thick forest 666 square miles…"

"Of course." Bozer mumbled. Matty silenced him with a glare.

"Of the original house only the foundation remains." She put up a picture of a charred rectangle the size of a football field. Sharp knives of blackened broken walls stuck up like gravestones hinting at the size and opulence of the manor house.

"The house was...insane." Riley said shaking her head. She put up the plans of the house.

"What the fuck? That looks like one of those stupid painting Mac likes."

"It was built by a hundred different architects. Every corner was some homage to a horror movie and had trap doors, things that jumped out at you and gross dioramas." Bozer said rubbing his hands together.

"A real life House of Horrors." Jack mumbled. His mind thought of the twelve missing EOD techs, "This can only get worse."

"No kidding." Matty added her finger on her chin. The others waited as the diminutive woman studied the plans. Jack stepped to her side studying the map with a technical eye.

"Riley, put up an overhead of the house." The house outline was barely visible under skeletal branches of an encroaching forest.

"I don't see a way in." Riley said.

"There was purported to be a maze under the house." Bozer's voice was quiet as he realized they'd have to go to the haunted plot of land.

"Fucking fantastic." Jack grumbled, "Riley, run infrared." Everyone in the room stared at him surprised. Jack rolled his eyes, "You think I never watch Mac work?"

"Well…"

"Shut up, Boze." A bigger picture of the burn out house filled the screen. Jack stepped forward. The maze or whatever horrors were in the basement weren't visible, but four squares lit up.

"These must be entrances," Jack huffed. He turned and looked at Matty, "That's gonna be a tough nut to crack." Matty smiled sweetly.

"Well you better go with the other boys and figure out how to crack your nuts. Let me know what the plan is. Bozer you go sit with Mac so his Nanny can have enough peace of mind to think an intelligent thought."

"That'll be a first." Teased Riley. Jack shot her a glare.

"The rest of you get some rest. Tomorrow's going to be busy." Matty

Turned back to the picture a thoughtful look on her face.

"What're you gonna do, boss?" Jack asked. He smiled at Matty's surprised face when she turned to face him.

"I'm going to rattle some trees to find out what Apple-pears is." Jack grinned and opened his mouth. Matty glared at him and pointed a finger at him, "Do not say a word, Dalton." Jack shut his mouth and with a glum look on his face pulled out a phone calling TAC leaders together.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Jack dabbed Mac's sweaty face with a damp rag. Mac twisted his head aside and mumbled something. His temperature had risen to 102.9 resulting in a house call from Doc Carl. The young doctor had started an IV and given Mac more medicines through the IV. Jack looked up at the doctor.

"I haven't seen him this sick since he got Dengue fever in Spain. What else can we do for him?" Doc Carl looked over worried.

"It's his body fighting back. When his fever breaks, he'll feel better."

"He's not the only one." Jack grumbled. He swabbed Mac's fish belly white chest. Mac mumbled. His eyes cracked open and he mumbled something. Jack could make out his name," It's ok, brother, I'm here. Everybody's here, you're safe." Mac's eyes closed and he stilled.

Doc Carl put a hand on Jack's shoulder.

"He's going to be alright, Jack. The virus just has to run its course." Jack sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"I know. It's the timing. If I didn't know he'd started to get sick before Jamaica I would think someone planned this."

"Yeah," Doc Carl yawned then stepped back. Jack looked up to the curly-haired doctor.

"Long day?" Doc Carl chuckled.

"You think Mac's bad when he's sick, you should see Sally."

"Sally's out?" Doc Carl nodded and bent to gather his equipment.

"If I was into this Halloween stuff I'd think Phoenix is cursed. We've had a nonstop trickle of accidents and illnesses like Mac and to have Sally out…"

"It's the season, man." Jack said. Doc Carl chuckled around a yawn.

"Too true, you guys be careful on the raid, ok?" Jack nodded as the Phoenix doctor left. Mac tossed his head back and forth. Jack rang out the cloth and patted his forehead. Mac sighed and rested back. Jack sighed pushing Mac's hair back from his sweaty skin. Jack could feel the heat pouring from the kid.

"How's he doing?" Jack jumped and shot Matty a glare. Her attention was focused on Mac. Jack sighed.

"His temp's leveled off. Doc Carl switched out the fluids in the IV and gave him a handful of drugs." Matty put a hand on Jack's shoulder.

"He's going to be fine, Jack."

"I know, Matty. I just hate seeing him like this." Matty laughed softly.

"You hate seeing him with a hangnail!"

"Hangnails are dangerous!" Jack smiled appreciating Matty's easing of the sense of doom that hung over the room.

"I'm going to see the Gorgon tomorrow." Jack raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously? This goes that high?" Jack's rumbling voice left no doubt about how much he hated it.

"Or low."

"Low?"

"The army doesn't want it published, but several smuggling rings were found in Bagram."

"You think Mac's team was doing that?" Matty shrugged.

"Either it's an army cover up or-"

"A black ops." Jack growled.

"Unlikely. Mac's team were EOD techs."

"But smuggling, Matty?" Jack swabbed Mac's head as the blond broke into a moist cough.

"I don't know, Jack. I hope the Gorgon will know."

"You think she'll tell you?" Matty's face soured.

"Yes, for a price. What time's the raid?"

"What time you going to the horror house?"  
"Please don't call it that." Jack asked. Matty rolled her eyes. "The hours were 7-13:00, we're going in a little before 13:00." Matty smiled pleased.

"Perfect, they'll think you decided not to go." Jack nodded. Matty leaned over Mac and kissed him on the forehead brushing his hair away from his face. Mac's eyes cracked open and he whispered something before breaking into a long run of coughs. Matty frowned and petted his hair back until the coughs quieted.

"You're job is to get better, MacGyver." Matty said softly. She straightened.

"I hate this." She gritted.


	4. Chapter 4

Jack bolted upright with a snort. His hand moved to his hip. A sneeze brought him awake. He glanced over. Mac sat on the edge of the bed leaning forward rubbing his nose with his sleeve. Mac sniffed and looked at Jack.  
Jack had never known what people meant by white as a ghost until now. Mac was so pale his eyebrows looked black in the dim light. His hair hung in a wet mop around his face. His shirt, pants and bed were so wet Jack thought he could ring them out and have enough moisture to fill a bathroom sink. Jack leaned forward. The kid's IV bag was empty and disconnected.

"Hey, brother, how do you feel?" Mac's eyes were bloodshot and wet.

"Soggy." Mac said a bit breathlessly. He offered a weak smile. Jack crouched in front of Mac and put his hand against Mac's forehead.

"Ha! Your fever broke." Jack said grinning. Mac sneezed twice more again. Jack didn't like the wheeze deep in Mac's chest.

"Ha, wonderful." Mac said dryly. He moved to stand up. Jack sprang to his feet. Mac put a hand on Jack's shoulder and stepped past him. Jack held onto the kid's elbow. Mac was shaky and wobbly.

"When are we raiding?" Mac asked heading for his go-bag.

" What's this 'we' crap? You aren't going anywhere but back to bed." Mac glared at Jack over his shoulder.

"No, I am…" Mac gasped as he bent over to pick up his bag and fell forward. Jack caught his shoulders and help him straighten. Mac's knees threatened to buckle. Jack draped Mac's arm over his shoulder and took his weight heading toward the shower. Mac sniffed and wiped his nose.

"We aren't going until after lunch. If, and I mean IF, you can walk without falling over I might let you come and sit in the car."

"Jack-" Before Mac could say more, Bozer bounded to their side.

"You're up, fantastic!...ugh you're kinda slimy, no offense." Mac ducked his head.

"Thanks, Boze."

"Hey Boze, grab his bag and change his bed will ya?" There wasn't a shower. Jack walked Mac to the toilet and put the seat down. Mac leaned on the sink closing his eyes, breathing heavy. Jack sat on the edge of the giant tub and started to warm the water. He dug up a mostly empty bottle of shampoo.

"Looks like you're gonna have to use this as shampoo and soap." Mac nodded. Jack plugged the tub and turned back to Mac. Mac met his gaze.

"What do we know so far?" Jack told him about Wendell Kells. Mac frowned.

"That sounds familiar." Mac rubbed his forehead. He shook his head and looked at Jack frustrated.

"You don't like horror movies with blood and gore." Jack said frowning. Mac shrugged.

"Boze probably gushed about it."

"I gotta tell ya, Mac, I'm just a little freaked out about crawling around Kells dungeon." Mac's mouth quirked with amusement.

"Dungeon?"

"Seriously dude, if you saw this guys movies…" Jack turned off the water. He steadied Mac as the kid slicked out of his wet clothes and sank into the warm water. Mac coughed and sneezed for a full minute as he adjusted to the steaming water. Jack waited until he was sure Mac wasn't going to drop dead or drown then left the blonde to it. He left the door unlocked.

Boze joined him in the living room. Jack was surprised to find it empty. It was only 09:00.

"Where is everyone?"

"Matty and Riley are going to see...the Gorgon? Here I save breakfast for both of you." Bozer handed Jack a covered tray. He opened a heaping plate of eggs, sausage, hashbrowns and toast. The toast was a little soggy everything else was perfection. Jack snarfed it then sat back grinning at Bozer.

"Dude, I could kiss you sometimes." Jack gushed. Bozer wrinkled his nose.

"Let's not, 'k." Jack chuckled as he sipped the black store bought coffee. He frowned looking at the bathroom door.

"Did they have any idea when they'll be back?"

"No, but Doc Carl and Laura are coming out around noon." Bozer glanced at the closed door, "We aren't going to drug him again are we? I felt terrible about doing it in the first place." Jack grimaced.

"Yeah, me too. But we had to to get him here healthy and safe." Bozer nodded drinking a glass of ice water.

"So if you aren't taking him on the road…?" Jack rolled his eyes.

"Yes, Bozer, you are coming with me. We'll have two TAC teams too. Don't be too excited, we have no idea what we're going to walk into. You stay close to me and do what I tell ya, got it?"

"Hell yes, Jack. This is a creepy ass place...I'm definitely going to be behind you the entire way." Jack gave Bozer a droll look.

"Really? Using a pun? Dude, that's my thing." Bozer was about to answer when Mac called Jack's name.

"I'll get our germ factory dressed, you get his breakfast ready. Hopefully he'll be back to sleep before Sally gets here.

"She might drug him." Bozer said wincing in sympathy at the idea. Jack grinned.

"Better her than me. C'mon." Mac sat shivering on the toilet with a towel around him.  
"All done, bud?" Mac didn't bother answering he pushed off the sink to his feet then leaned on Jack's shoulder. Jack frowned at how cold Mac felt. Mac coughed and pulled his arms across his chest.

"I gotcha bag over here." Jack helped Mac into another full set of sweats with a T-shirt under the hoodie. Mac swayed and huffed out of breath by the time he finished dressing. Jack led him to the bedroom. The sheets, pillows and blankets had all been changed. Mac sat on the side of the bed chest heaving as he caught his breath. He sneezed three more times. Bozer came in and handed Mac the box of tissues. While Mac blew his nose, Bozer set up a plate of toast with two boiled eggs. He handed Mac a glass of apple juice. Mac smiled at his friend with thanks. Bozer sat in the recliner, Jack sat beside Mac. He didn't miss the slight trembling in Mac's hand as the kid peeled the shell off the eggs.

"Why didn't you ever tell us about this EOD team?" Jack asked. Mac glanced at him nibbling the toast. He shrugged. He grimaced as he swallowed taking a deep drink of juice to wash the toast down.

"Never came up, I guess. I don't know, I was just out of school and given the easiest assignment I guess. It was all routine." Mac turned away from Jack and sneezed. He again wiped his nose.

"What about the guys? Were they decent dudes?" Mac choked down another bite of toast.

"They were decent and hardworking as far as I could tell. We cleared at least 5 IEDs a day from Bagram."

"It still gives me the willies when I think about you over there playing with bombs." Bozer said shuddering.

"You should try standing next to him, especially when you hear a 'whoops' then he asks for your phone or gum wrapper or whatever." All three laughed. Mac exploded into coughing. Finally, he was able to wheeze in enough air to catch his breath.

"It was kinda weird though," Mac said softly, "None of these guys were through EOD training the same time I was, Frosty was with the squad the longest, two or three years?"

"That's not long." Bozer said. Mac and Jack shared a sad look.

"In EOD years, that's past late retirement." Jack offered to Bozer's puzzled expression, "EODs roll through the fastest and have the highest incidence of PTSD than anyone else over there." There was a long minute of silence, the three men lost in thought.

"The other odd thing was they were brought from all branches of the military. Three were air force techs, four were from the navy and the rest were army. They were assembled a year before I joined."

"Different branches don't work like that?" Bozer asked.

"Hell no." Jack muttered, "Who put the team together?" Mac shrugged. He dropped the piece of toast on the plate and rubbed his forehead. He'd eaten about half the plate. Bozer glanced at Jack who nodded. Mac downed the rest of the juice and Bozer took the dishes away. Jack stood up.

"Ok, brother, time to sleep." Jack's worry skyrocketed when Mac climbed into bed without a word. Jack pulled the covers up and left the tissues in easy reach. Mac coughed already half asleep.

"Thanks, Jack." Mac murmured.

"You bet, kiddo."

"Wake me up when we're ready to go." Mac closed his eyes. His mouth opened and his breath rattled. Jack pushed damp hair away from Mac's pale face. He didn't look as washed out as he did when he woke up. His temp was definitely down. Jack let out a relieved breath. Wake him up for the raid? Not damn likely. Jack turned off the light and left the door ajar. He still had a couple hours to get in some sleep before they moved.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Mac was curled up in his pile of blankets, his hair puffed in all directions when Jack checked on him. Jack let out a long breath in relief. Even if Mac was in perfect health the idea of taking him on a raid to an enemy who could butcher a soldier and tack him to a door isn't acceptable. Jack had been considering slipping Mac another mickie. Jack was relieved he didn't have to do that again. He was lucky Mac forgave him for the first time; although Jack knew he was going to pay for it-somehow.

Jack silently crept away leaving the door open. Doc Carl sat in the living room talking to Laura. Jack stopped beside them.

"Laura is going to stay here to keep an eye on Mac." Doc Carl said. The elder nurse shot Jack a look that would scare a rowdy crowd of ninth graders.

"I'll keep him safe." The fire in the old nurse's frog like voice reassured Mac. The woman would take on a bear to protect her patients. Jack smiled and squeezed her shoulder.

"There'll be two TAC teams outside and one in here. They'll keep you safe." Laura nodded.  
"Go kick some psycho ass." She growled.

"That's the plan."

It was 13:00 exactly when the battalion of Phoenix TAC agents, SWAT, and LAPD set the perimeter around Sleepy Hollow Green.

"All teams go." Jack whispered into his shoulder mic. He turned to Bozer who clung to his back like a second skin.

"Don't worry, I'm sticking to you like glue." Jack nodded and swallowed. He shared the younger man's fear. Even though the sky was a bright cloudless blue, Sleepy Hollow Green was a dark foreboding wood. Jack nodded at Collins, Alpha 2. He lifted his M5 and walked forward six TAC and Bozer close behind.

Collins and two other Alpha agents stepped forward toward a towering 20 foot tall rusted gate. The gate looked like the old western entryways Jack had seen around a hundred middle American cemeteries. The fence attached to it went around the entire square mile-666 square acres. Jack shuddered feeling like a character in one of Kells movies. His mouth was dry. Kells had a nasty habit of killing off all of his characters except the psycho killer. A chill of foreboding settled into Jack's gut.

Jack and Bozer both jumped as the old gate let out a hellish scream as two TAC pushed it open. The gate was heavy and had taken more than an hour to cut through. The other teams would take even longer to join the raid. Without gates, they had to break through a row of solid iron bars. It was old and rusted but still sturdy enough to be a frontier fort.

Jack glanced at Bozer who had paled a shade. Jack tried to offer a reassuring smile, but his lips stayed in a pale dash. Jack swallowed and stepped forward primed for anything.

Kells had planted a forest of tall oaks. During the drought the water thirsty trees had died. Light under their tall black spears was dimmed. There was scrub growing at the knees of the trees, but it only made the sun dimmer. All of the timber were misshaped and gnarled. They looked like melting people writhing in inhuman agony. Jack felt like he'd stepped into a post apocalyptic nightmare. Beneath them twigs and yellowed grass snapped like fingers as they walked. Audible breathing and nervous whispers behind him told him the others were picking up the same death vibe.

"Only a half mile, guys. Remember to breathe, ok?" Jack whispered back glancing over his shoulder at his team. They visibly relaxed a notch and shared a nervous giggle.

"This place is something." Jones, Alpha three whispered.

"Ain't that the truth." Macon, Alpha six replied.

"Shh, we're still in enemy territory."

"Sorry, Sir." Both men snapped back. Jack smiled. Didn't want the boys to forget they were heading for a hell house, and it was good to keep them a little scared of him too.

Other than the crunch of their boots, the rest of the trek was made in an eerie silence. No bird song, no animals, and the closed in black trunks penning them in only increased the spookiness. Jack shook his head and forced himself to focus on the mission. He wasn't a guy in one of Kells movies, he said to himself with a gulp. Of course if he was he'd be the good looking jock. Jack scowled. They were always the jerks who everyone wanted to be dead. Well he wasn't a jerk, too often. Jack glanced at Bozer whose wide eyes scoured the bush around them. Besides Bozer would die first.

Jack motioned the team to stop at the thick edge of the woods. The remains of the mansion looked like a black stain held at bay only by shriveled saplings that seemed to sag in exhaustion.

Like the forest, spikes bobbed up from the burnt earth. A curved staircase wound up to an absent portico. Two fallen columns beside it made the tragedy that had happened in the house and the lives it interrupted more palpable.

"Bozer, where's the entrance?" Jack whispered even though most of the house was easily seen. It was the shadows behind broken mortar and stacks of splintered roof that worried the Delta. Bozer pointed at the staircase.

"It is supposed to open behind the front door."

"Supposed to?" Jack was annoyed. He forced himself to remember Bozer had put together what map they had out of fragmented accounts of police reports and visitor accounts.

"Ok, let's move." The wind felt hot and dirty as they crept toward the smoked out ruin. Jack leaned against the marble staircase as he crept around it. He'd just rounded the back corner when he was flattened by something with claws and an inhuman howl.


	5. Chapter 5

Jack grabbed fur and managed to shove his opponent away. Jack gasped his face, arms and hands hurt from open scratches. He looked up at the sound of Bozer laughing. Jack winced as he sat up.

"What are you laughing at?" Jack growled. Bozer pointed. Jack followed the gesture and closed his eyes part pissed off, part amused. A giant black cat with its fur standing up glared at him with angry golden eyes. The cat's back was arched and tail twitched. The cat hissed then vanished in one of the darker shadows behind a broken wall. Jack stood up brushing off the thick ash. He glared at Bozer who tried to stifle his mirth.

"Shh." Jack hissed at Bozer as he took his fallen M5 from Collins. Bozer nodded, his face sinking into wariness. Jack pulled Bozer behind him and started walking the visible path of the front hall.  
"Jack-!" Jack lost Bozer's warning when there was a loud rumble followed by an ear splitting clank. Jack yelped as he was suddenly falling into total darkness.

"JAACK!" Bozer hollered above him. After what felt like miles, Jack slammed into cold stone. There was another clank and the stone tilted sending Jack rolling deeper into blackness. Jack heard Bozer thump hard then follow him. Both men scrambled for a hold, but the stone was flat and smooth. Marble, Jack thought.

The tiny hatch of light above blinked out as the slope ended and Jack was free falling again. Jack whoofed as he slammed into cobblestones. He rolled onto his back groaning at the agony and bruising that covered him from head to toe. In total darkness, he had no warning of landing. Jack had just managed to take in a breath when Bozer's heavyweight flattened him. Jack's head slammed back into stone and the darkness became darker and Jack slipped fully into it.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

"So who is this Gorgon?" Riley asked Matty. The Phoenix boss drove her specially modified Volkswagen bug through LA. The sky had darkened and rain pattered against the roof.

"She's an information broker." Matty pulled into a small lot. In the middle of the parking lot was a tiny cottage painted pink with frilly painted trim. Riley wrinkled her nose and glanced at Matty. Matty came around the car and brushed her hair over her shoulder.

"This is not what I expected." Riley said softly. As they neared the building, Riley caught a whiff of cookies and bread. A sign on the side glass door said Eda's Yummies. Matty opened the door and stepped through.

Riley thought she'd died and gone to heaven. The air was filled with sweet smells of every kind. In front of her a glass counter showed all kinds of pastries including some donuts that had to be five inches across filled with chocolate fluff. Riley licked her lips. She could taste the sugar in the air.

"Riley!" Matty snapped. Riley straightened.

"Right." She muttered trying to keep her eyes from the decadent pastries. A small heavy woman in a candy apple apron handed change back to a tall man who nodded and left. The woman's round cheeks held up a small round pair of John Lennon glasses. Her hair was snow white and pulled back in a tight bun. She grinned at a Mom and two little kids. The kids jumped in excitement as they selected cookies.

"They've been after me for a week to come in." The harried mom said. The round Mrs. Santa smiled fondly at the children.

"You are just welcome anytime." Her voice was friendly and a little high pitched. Matty waited until the bakery was empty before stepping up to the counter.

The friendly facade dropped. The old woman took off her glasses and leaned forward glaring at Matty. Matty smiled sweetly but her eyes were cold and emotionless.

"Eda." She said. Riley could feel the 30 degree drop in temperature between the two.

"Mathilda." The woman's voice had changed to fingernails on chalkboard. Her eyes scanned and dismissed Riley, "What do you want, you miserable gnome?" Riley's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. Matty smiled sweetly.

"Are you still mad about Ukraine?" Eda leaned back and pulled out a rag. She wiped down the counter.

"Get to it, midget, or get the fuck out." Riley bit her lip. Matty pulled a fat folder out of her bag. She slapped it on the counter. Eda opened it and smile. She almost purred as she leaned toward Matty.

"This'll take some doing."

"So there is something there." Eda rolled her eyes.

"You wouldn't be here if there wasn't." Matty smiled but didn't answer. Eda flipped through the folder.

"I think you stumbled on a Ghost Squad."

"Ghost squad?" Riley asked. Matty shot her a cold glare. Eda looked at her and smiled.

"Yes, my deary. Stories have been told about them for years, sort of like an urban myth of the military…" The old woman frowned and leaned on her elbows, " I never heard of any EOD involvement. Did you look into smuggling?" Matty rolled her eyes.

"Why do you think I'm here?" Eda sniffed and flipped through the rest of the folder.

"I've heard about random squads in all branches of the military and intelligence services that go off books, usually a month or so, then come back and are disbanded. Rumor says it's all part of a psy-op."

"These guys were all murdered." Matty asked. Eda leaned back and sighed.

"I can keep digging but I want something good for it, and nothing like Ukraine." Eda stared at Matty with slitted eyes. Matty pulled out another folder. Eda opened it and nodded, "I'll have something tomorrow." Matty nodded. She turned and shoved Riley out in front of her.

"That's it?" Riley asked. Matty nodded.

"Until tomorrow."

"What next?"

"Let's hope Jack has better luck."

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

"Ung...Bozer...get off…" Jack gasped as he slowly opened his eyes. He heard a groan from the younger man. The sound echoed dully in the stone chamber.

"I hurt everywhere." Bozer muttered.

"OFF!"

"Ok, ok...got it." Jack let out a relieved breath as Bozer rolled off him. Jack gasped as he moved. He felt his head. A goose bump covered most of the back of his head and he was pretty sure he'd broken the world record for number of bruises. Jack took a steadying breath. If he hadn't been in TAC gear he'd be a pile of snapped bones. Jack reached into a side pocket and pulled out his moaned and turned away as Jack accidently flashed him in the face.

"Damn, Jack."  
"Sorry, dude. You ok, Boze?" Jack scanned the younger man with the light. Bozer had a swollen cheek and bloody lip. He held his left arm.

"It's ok, just a sprained elbow. Considering how far we fell I'm pretty damn good."  
"No kidding." Jack studied the room they'd fallen into. He'd lost his M5 and didn't see it on the floor of the small chamber. He pulled his Baretta from his papoose holster. They had tumbled out of a cement shoot twenty feet above their head. The walls were some sort of black smooth stone that was so cold it felt wet to the touch. The floor was uneven bricks and cobblestones. They could have been taken from an old village in europe. There was only one doorway. Jack shared a worried look at Bozer.

"After you." Bozer said.  
"Great." Jack grumbled, "Here take the light."

The door led to a low narrow corridor. Jack and Bozer hunched forward Bozer aiming the maglite. The dark stone seemed to swallow the light. They could see only a few feet in front of them; after that the tunnel was a black throat. Both men moved quietly and didn't dare talk. A hot breeze passed them like a hot intake of air following them.

"This breeze must be coming from the air vent." Bozer whispered. Both men cringed at the loudness of his voice against the oppressive stone. Jack didn't waste time answering. Jack stumbled forward. Bozer fell into his back. Jack held an arm out.

"Watch where you're going." He hissed. Before Bozer could say a word, Jack tripped forward. Bozer studied the floor.

"The floor tilting down."

"You're right." Jack started forward again his feet braced against the steep decline. Eventually the angle became so sharp that both men tumbled to the bottom. Jack winced. He'd kept hold of his pistol. The flashlight swung wildly throwing light in the disorienting blackness. Jack groaned as he climbed to his feet. His bruises burned like fire. He reclaimed the light and held out a hand to help Bozer to his feet.

"Damn, I don't know if this is scary but it sure do hurt."

"Yeah," Jack grumbled. He holstered his pistol and claimed the maglite. They were at a juncture. Two halls led off to either side of them. Jack glanced at Bozer who shrugged. Jack took a steadying breathe and led the way to the tunnel to the right. It was short then opened into a large stone chamber. Jack gasped.

"No...no…" In the center of the room, Mac hung from a noose. Jack ran forward. Blood ran down Mac's face. His neck was bent at an inhuman angle. Blood soaked his sweat shirt and pants. One running shoe dangled from his right foot the other had fallen to the floor which was caked with layers of blood.

"MAC!" Bozer screamed as he ran to Jack's side.


	6. Chapter 6

Mac opened his eyes as he broke into a set of coughs that made his chest feel like a nuclear explosion. Moaning he poked a hand out of his comfy marshmallow and pulled back a handful of tissue. He sat up and frowned. He wasn't in his own bed. As he blew his nose, his eyebrows rose higher. He wasn't in his room, his house. What had…

Slowly it returned to him like a dream. The dead man tacked to his door, feeling sick, being drugged, the safe house, the raid…

"The raid!" Mac's voice cracked as he shoved aside the pile of covers and sat beside the bed. He paused everything swirling around him. He straightened and ran face first into an IV pole. Mac frowned and tugged the line out of his arm. He shoved aside the pole and headed for the door.

Everything felt wanky. The floor seemed to roll under his feet like ripples in a pond. He couldn't tell what time it was through the cracks in the boards over the windows. Mac blinked blinded by the light as he exited the room.

"What the hell are you doing up?" Mac's head reverberated with the frog-voiced lion's roar. Mac tried to swallow, but his mouth was too dry from mouth breathing. Laura grabbed him by the arm and shepherded him over to the couch. Mac gut was upset enough that the orange-green combination made him sick. He plopped down and leaned back feeling flattened and sore.

Laura sat beside him and took his blood pressure. Mac closed his eyes and mumbled answers to her battery of questions.

"Open!" Mac opened his mouth to ask what the hell the old nurse was talking about. Laura jabbed a thermometer in his mouth. Mac closed his mouth around it and felt suddenly breathless. His nose was clogged and he'd been mouth breathing. After an agonizing 8 seconds the thermometer beeped. Laura took it out.

"Hmmm." Mac glared at her.

"Hmmm, what?" Laura tried a sweet smile, but on the grumpy nurse it looked like a laughing Jack O'lantern.

"101. Still high, but not too bad. Probably from that mountain of blankets you sleep in."

"I get cold." Mac crossed his hands across his chest defiantly. Laura laughed and patted Mac on the shoulder.

"That's because you don't have any meat on your scrawny assed bones." Mac shook his head. Normally he appreciated the Phoenix nurse's bluntness, but he just hurt too much and felt too terrible. Noting this Laura suggested he go back to bed. Mac shook his head and laid back. Laura went to the kitchen and ten minutes later set toast and apple juice in front of Mac. Mac grimaced. He opened his mouth to tell the old battle ax he wasn't hungry but Laura stood over him as implacable as a cement brick. Mac sighed and slowly began to nibble the toast. He wouldn't admit it but he did feel better with some food in him. He finished his juice.

"What time is it? I assume Jack went on the raid?" Mac hated the childish snark in his voice. Laura chuckled and plopped into a chair across from Mac.

"Yeah, our brave knight is off to save the world from ghosts and goblins." Mac raised an eyebrow. Laura might have meant it as a joke, but her dreamy look and sigh revealed her continuing crush on his partner. Mac chuckled.

"To answer your question it's going on 3:00."

"What did they report?"

"No one's called to report anything."

"What?" Mac jumped to his feet and instantly regretted it. Laura was up and bounced across the room saving the blonde from a faceplant, "You are bound and determined to crack your head in." Mac sat down and closed his eyes waiting for the roulette wheel to stop spinning. He swallowed and sneezed. Laura handed him a tissue.

"Matty and Riley finished up with the Gorgon and is headed over there now." Mac moved to stand up again. Laura bent over and leaned a hand on his shoulder forcing him to stay sitting.

"Move off that couch and I will break your knees." Mac glared at her. Laura met his gaze her moss green eyes narrowed. She meant it. Mac huffed and nodded. Laura patted him on the head.

"Good boy." Mac slapped her hands away.

"Not a dog." Laura laughed.

"No but you are as cute as a puppy."

"Quit with the puppy already!" Before Laura could answer the door opened and three TAC troops stomped in. Their faces were grim.

"We gotta move." They grabbed Mac by the arms and half carried him out the door. Laura followed on their heels.

"What's…DOWN!" Mac cried as a gas grenade bounced into the room. Mac whumphed as an agent slammed him to the ground putting his body over Mac's to protect him. Mac exploded into coughing as he tried to suck in air. Everything became foggy. Mac tried to blink the gas away but it was too thick. Black worms crept across his vision. Silence fell. Mac grunted trying to push the dead weight off him, but he was too weak. The world had almost slipped away when the TAC agent's body was rolled away. Mac sucked in a breath of relief then froze. A blurry figure in black wearing a gas mask leaned over him.

"MacGyver, how I've missed you." Mac's mouth fell open but was already in use trying to breathe. The world slid into a thick darkening cloud until there was only blackness.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Jack touched Mac's leg then fell to his knees, tears running down his face. A keening wail exploded from his chest. Mac dead? How could he…

"Jack...it's not him!" Jack looked up at Bozer.

"Wha-?" Bozer grinned down.

"It's a fake. Made out of gypsum paste and plastic." He pulled up Mac's sleeve. Jack bounced up. It was pale like Mac but there was no hair. If Jack knew one thing, he knew his best friend had hair on his arms. Jack squeezed and looked at Bozer.

"It feels like skin."

"Trust me, it's not. I used this same formula to make my slush for my prosthetics." Jack spun the fake Mac to face him. His gut churned looking at the purple-grey face.

"It's so fucking real...I almost…" Jack rubbed his eyes and took a deep breath. Bozer gave him a quick side hug.

"Me too, brother." They shared a glance then turned and left the chamber. They found another passage leading to an endless warren of black tunnels. It was dizzying. The floors tilted up then down; then began wavy halls and circles. The pair didn't talk but both of them walked quicker and took less care of the path. They wanted out. Jack spun as they walked into a dead end.

"Son of a bitch! I am tired of this place." Jack roared.

"Yeah, this place...it's like walking around in a crypt."

"Bozer!"

"Sorry."

There was no sense of time and the blackness seemed to infest the air creeping closer around them. They reached another T intersection. Jack automatically picked the right tunnel.

Inside was another dead Mac. Jack's mouth dried and his jumped in his throat. This time Mac had been drawn and quartered. Jack took in the severed arms and legs, the hanging intestines and had to run out of the room swallowing bile. Jack heard Bozer puke behind him. Jack handed him a stick of gum when the younger man finished.

"This is fucking sick." Boze gasped.

"I am so gonna murder this guy when I find him." Jack growled.

"At least he can't get to Mac." Jack sighed and squeezed Bozer's shoulder.

"Thank god, let's keep going. There has to be a way out down here somewhere."

They found four more murdered MacGyvers. Even knowing they were fake, Jack felt his heart lurch every time. The blood, the silent screams, the broken bones...they were way to fucking real. It was taking its toll. Jack shared a look at Bozer. He could see how close to the ragged edge Boze was.

"Easy, Boze. Remember it's not him."

"I know, but it takes time for that much detail and authenticity." Jack gulped. Someone seriously fantasize about murdering Mac. He didn't like it at all. Jack's fingers twitched with the need to see the real MacGyver, reassure himself his brother was alive. Real or not these horrors would haunt Jack forever.

Jack froze wrinkling his nose.

" Oh crap." He murmured. He pulled out his Barretta.

"What?" Bozer whispered at his elbow.

"Stay here, Boze."

"Oh. hell. No!" Jack barely heard the younger man. The sticky sweet smell of rotten flesh and blood wafted down the narrow corridor.

"Something's dead ahead. Something real." Jack whispered. He felt Bozer cling to his load vest. Jack crept forward holding his maglite and Baretta in a Weaver's grip. The tunnel they were in opened into a large chamber. Jack paused turning his head. He'd been around a lot of death and dealt with a lot of sick fucking things, but this...this almost made him puke.

A long narrow table stretched across the back wall. Headless bodies were frozen in a perfect macabre recreation of Da Vinci's _Last Supper_. The bodies were dressed in digis their heads on plates in front of them, their severed hands on either side like sick silverware. Jack scanned the grim table. They were the missing squad of EOD techs. Jack frowned. There was no blood. Some bodies were rotting; one looked fresh. Jack paused and moved closer. Along the plates were scattered burnt electrical parts and twisted shapes of metal. Jack thought he recognized some of the parts.

"Are those bombs?" Jack jumped at Bozer's voice in his ear.

"Yeah, I think so." Jack froze as he reached the middle of the table. Where Jesus sat in the original painting a black-robed skeleton with mummified skin hanging off it sat in a beneficent pose.

"That dude's not cut up." Jack noted.

"And look who's supposed to be Judas." Bozer pointed. Jack leaned closer. An uncut mannequin of Mac stood in for the traitor. Jack frowned. This MacGyver was younger, had the same freckled innocence Jack had seen when he first met Mac over in the sandbox. He was dressed in full EOD gear including the bulky backpack the kid had actually carried.

The two men stared at the grisly diorama feeling sick. Jack turned away and scanned the room.

"We have to get out of here." Jack couldn't hide the note of panic creeping into his voice.  
"How? If we-"

"Bingo!" Jack cried. Above them on the roof Jack saw a rectangle crack that did not sync with the other marble stones.

"YES!" Bozer yelled. He bent and held his hand like a horseshoe. Jack used it to launch up, but fell a hands length short.

"Dammit." Jack growled. He grinned at Bozer. Jack moved to the corpse at the end of the table and shoved the body off the chair. It hit the ground with a wet splat refreshing the stench of decay. Bozer cried out and turned away heaving.

"Oung...Jack that's...umph…"

"C'mon, dude. We're almost there." Bozer's eyes watered. He leaned forward and spit then stood up.

"Ok, ok. I got this." Boze told himself.

"That's the spirit." Jack climbed on the chair. The chair wobbled and creaked. Bozer shimmied up Jack's back and balanced his feet on Jack's shoulders. He was able to put his back against the roof.

"Ready?"

"Do it." Jack grunted his face red, veins popping out. Bozer lifted. Jack groaned under the pressure. He could feel the chair shake and sag under hiim. He closed his eyes and rattled off a quick silent prayer.

There was a loud clunk then a thin sliver of daylight appeared in the blackness. Bozer and Jack screamed in joy. Bozer managed to push the trap door up four inches spitting out ashes as they blew into his face.

"There they are!" Riley's voice echoed through the opening. Jack closed his eyes feeling tears run down his face again. Everything became a blur of noise, lights and uniforms moving around him, then Jack was above ground sprawled on grass looking up at two of the most beautiful things he'd ever seen- Riley and Matty's faces. He glanced over at Bozer sprawled beside him. Both men grinned and bumped knuckles. Jack sat up grabbed Riley and pulled her in for a tight if shaky embrace.

"What did you find?" Matty asked standing beside her agents worry on her face. In broken voices Jack and Bozer managed to sputter out their story. Both women blanched sharing a glance. Matty tugged out her phone and hit speed dial. Jack let Riley go and pushed to his feet. He ignored the bustle of the police around him.

"What is it?" He asked a cold weight in his gut. Matty gave him a worried frown that told him what he needed to know. He whirled and barked at Phoenix TAC agents speeding to the safe house.

"What's up?" Riley asked eyes wide. Matty led them to her volkswagen.

"No one's answering at the safe house."


	7. Chapter 7

Mac shivered with cold. His fever must be back. He went to pull up the covers when he realized he couldn't move his hands. Mac moaned breaking off into wet coughs. He blinked. The sun shone bright on him. Mac remembered the safe house. There hadn't been any sun. He blinked and turned his head. The circle of headlight bright lights less than three feet from his head didn't allow him to process anything coherently. Everything was a black blur around the bursting suns of fire. What the hell?

"Awake? Good. Hello Angus." Mac looked down eyes wide. He was naked and tied to a chair a layer of frost on his body and the metal. He moved his hand and winced. His skin was stuck to the ice cold chair.  
"W-who...r-r-r are you?" Mac managed around his chattering teeth. His breath fogged in the air.

"You don't remember? I should feel hurt. Do you know what today is?" Mac winced and shook his head. He couldn't see anything past the lights. The eyes began a slow pulse. Mac moaned feeling dizzy.

"Today is the anniversary of the day you murdered my babies." Mac's head ducked. The lights fell into sync looking like a ring of fire. Mac tried to turn away, but the lights sped up. No matter where he looked blazing brightness spun toward him, through him, then around him. Mac tried to squint his eyes. His eyelids did nothing to block the sickening effect. Mac leaned forward and puked down the front of him. A black glove reached out from the circle and painfully gripped his chin.

"Today is the day you die MacGyver, alone and broken."

"W-who...ar-r-r you?" Mac gagged trying to see the arm or a face. A solid punch tilted everything to the side. Mac heard whispered voices but couldn't focus enough to hear the words.

There was a buzz and the lights became flashing lights of color. Mac dry heaved. He felt a deep rumble in his bones, his heart sped up and he suddenly had trouble breathing. Subsonic frequency, his brain managed. Mac felt his body respond with gibbering terror. Mac tried to focus, but the lights began to strobe. Another set of lights flashed below him. Under the floor? Mac felt his hair stand straight up. He tried to look up but lights strobed there too. He had no idea what direction was up or down. There was another buzz and he was surrounded by painfully loud screams, shouts and blaring horns. Mac shook his head, but there was no relief from the deafening noise.

Suddenly a wave of freezing water hit him. Mac gasped, the frigid temperature steal his breath. His bare skin pulled away from the freezing chair as he shivered. The noise got louder. Lazer points began to puncture the blur of blinking. They seemed to burn into Mac's eyes. He felt as if he had no eyelids.

The lights moved faster blinking and strobing. Above the cacophony of noise he heard a constant chant of "murderer." Mac thrashed trying to get rid of the sensory overload, but there was nowhere to go and nowhere to stop his anguish. Mac screamed. The chair beneath him began to shake and heat. At first the heat felt good, then it became hot, then started to burn. Mac squirmed breaking out in sweat. His breath hitched as he was hit with another tidal of freezing water. The water hit the chair and thick steam folded around him. Mac's body tried to cough, but he couldn't take in air. Everything started to go black. He was hit by another wave of freezing water. Mac ducked his head unable to gag in air. His muscles hurt and he felt exhaustion set in. It went on for hours, or so it felt, before his body gave up and he fell into darkness.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Jack exploded through the safe house door ready to shoot anything that wasn't Phoenix. His gut clenched when he saw his TAC agents down and out on the floor. He paused and let out a small breath of relief. They were alive. Without looking over his shoulder he told Alpha four to call Doc Carl. He dashed through the house.

Jack's worst fears were confirmed. The back bedroom was empty. Jack frowned. Laura laid neatly on the bed under the covers out completely, but there was no Mac. Jack could make out faint drag marks in the berber and the imprint of a boot. Jack bent closer. Army issue. Damn.

Jack knelt beside Laura and gently tapped her cheek. The older nurse groaned and slowly roused.

"Laura? Sweetheart, wake up for me." Jack said. Laura's eyes cracked open. She slowly focused on Jack. Jack smiled, "That's it, c'mon I need…" Laura grinned.

"I like this dream." She mumbled. Jack moved to lean back confused, but the older woman reached up grabbed his head and tugged him down planting a five alarm long lasting kiss on his lips.

"Unghfp!" Jack protested as he tried to break free. Laura's eyes closed and her arm flopped beside her. Jack scurried back almost falling off the bed. He wiped his mouth and wobbled to his feet.

"Everything ok?" Jack jumped and turned glaring at Matty who stood in the doorway smirking. Jack again wiped his face and stood up, trying to be smooth.

"Everything's fine. Laura's...out...er, drugged pretty heavy."

"Aw, even a kiss from a handsome frog couldn't wake her up." Jack glared at Bozer. He hadn't realized the younger man had followed him into the room. Jack's face flushed with blood. He cleared his throat ready to push past the amused pair when his girl once again rescued him. Riley peeped into the room holding her laptop.

"I just got a report from the crime scene…" Riley frowned taking in her teammates, "Is, uh, everything ok here?"

"Oh it is just fine," Bozer laughed, "Jack here was-"

"Just going to get back to the search for Mac." Jack's glare silenced Bozer who looked contrite. He turned to confront Matty but she had already followed Riley to the living room.

Jack stared up at the big flat screen his gut twisting. Pictures of the murdered MacGyver dioramas and the bloody last supper filled the screen. They had been horrifying in the dark claustrophobic tunnels, in full light they were terrifying. Jack gulped back bile and looked at Riley.

"Like you said, Jack, all of the dead guys were members of Mac's EOD unit except the middle one, no ID on him yet. The ME hasn't had time to do autopsies yet, but it appears as if all the wounds were self-inflicted...except the beheading and dehanding, obviously." Riley closed her eyes and licked her lips.

"The FBI sent pics of the bomb bits to TEDAC, I emailed copies to Charlie too."

"Good job, Riley." Matty said. Jack nodded in agreement. He paused in his pacing to look at Bozer who was leaning forward to the screen.

"Something, Boze?" He asked. Bozer turned to him and pointed at the cape the middle figure was wrapped in.

"Doesn't that look like the cape used in _Demon Loving Smile_?" Jack leaned closer trying to picture the cape in his mind.

"Looks like it." Jack leaned back lips pursed. He turned to Matty and Riley, "What do we know about Wendell Kells?" He asked. Riley started typing.

"Nah, Jack couldn't be him. He died back in the '90s."

"I know that, Bozer. But this dude has some sort of tie to him or is the biggest film horror nerd to have ever lived." Jack's frustration burned through.

"Jack's right. You said that the guy had mad skills making prosthetics, who else could make those...things?" Riley looked like she wanted to puke.

"Good idea, Jack. Ok, Jack follow up on that angle maybe there's somebody who worked for Kells, a fanclub or something. Right now we need any leads we can get. Boze you stay and help Riley comb through the Kells history and crime scene info." Matty turned and slung her bag over her shoulder.

"Boss, where are you going?" Bozer asked. Matty smiled her cold interrogator's smile.

"To get some donuts."

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Pain woke Mac. Tearing trauma to his chest forced away any coherent thought. He gasped trying to arch away from the pain, it got worse. Mac cried out forcing his eyes open. He tried to suck in air but it made the torment worse. Mac's body thrashed when he coughed. Mac screamed, but his scream was choked by the shredding trauma. Tears poured down his face. He shook. Nothing could penetrate the blur his world had become. Mac twisted to get away from the pain. It got worse.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."Mac shook his head, a move that restarted the tidal wave of pain. He writhed trying to ease the continuous spasms wracking his body. Nothing stopped it. Mac tried to focus on the voice. It was electronically disguised and boomed from all around him.

Mac slowly looked down. He wished he hadn't. He was suspended twenty feet over a writhing mass of insects by two meat hooks poked through his pectoral muscles. He gritted his teeth trying to ignore the hungry chittering below him. His blood dripped down into the black writing mass working the insects into a feverish frenzy. Mac gagged on the thick smell of vinegar and formic acid. Ants. Mac forced himself to calm down. His hands were still tied behind his back. The room he was in was warm and swampy, but not as hot as the chair had been. Mac forced himself to take in a shallow breath. He closed his eyes and bit back another scream. The large metal hooks dug deeper into his muscle tissue scooping his meat away from its mooring. Mac painted fighting panic. It wouldn't be long before they cut through and Mac would fall into the endless vat of swirling insects. Mac fought panic. He glanced down trying to not move.

"Do you like the ants? Do you recognize them?" Mac closed his eyes trying to put his mind away from the dread of what was coming.

"No? I'm surprised, you always acted like you knew everything. These beauties below you are _Paraponera clavata_ …" Mac's eyes widened and he looked down a new fear creeping through every pore.

"I see you know the name. You always were such a clever boy. Bullet ants, they're quite expensive you know; I only wanted the best for you. I was going to go with spiders, but they'd kill you and I don't want to kill you...yet. I have been dreaming of this night for a long time, been through so many versions of you dying…" Mac tried to talk, but his mouth was busy chattering.

"What was that? Ah, why? You ask me why? It's simple, Angus. You are a murderer." Mac screamed as his body dropped an inch his muscles pulled up. It was an endless bloody pain. His chest heaved like billows trying to force in air. Every breath was a rusted ax chopping deeper and deeper. Mac couldn't tell if it was sweat or blood that dripped down his naked body. Whichever it was the bullet ants sucked it up and crawled over each other searching for more. Mac tried to swallow, but he had no spit left.

Mac screamed as his flesh pulled apart another two inches. He leaned his head back. His hair was slick and his hands balled in fists. His feet pulsed as if trying to push the brake pedal to stop the pain.

"Do you know why they're called bullet ants? Rumor has it that each sting hurts like a bullet piercing your flesh. It won't kill you, unless you're allergic to them. I already checked and you aren't, if you wanted to know. I'm not sure how many are down there...10,000 maybe? Even taking into account the 3 or 4 thousand you flatten when you fall that's a lot...I wonder what it feels like to be shot 10, 000 times." Mac let out a full body scream as the hooks pulled free and he fell into the crawling mass of hell.


	8. Chapter 8

Jack thumped his hand against the steering wheel. The sky was filled with streamers of black clouds over pumpkin orange flame that spread from east to west. It would be dark in half an hour or so. Jack grimaced as he glanced at his GPS. He was in the right area. You never know, he told himself looking at the pathetically ordinary neighborhoods he drove through. Somewhere among this boring normalicy was the single greatest expert on all things Wendell Kells.

The house was a perfectly painted grey house with maroon shutters. Strewn across the lush green lawn were holiday decorations. Jack glared at the smiling Casper and Wendy and the jaunty skeleton with a top hat dancing tacked to the door. Jack gulped down a mouth full of bile as his memories of the body tacked to Mac's door floated through his head.

"Hello? Can I help you?" Jack's eyebrow rose. The man was short round and balding. He wore gold glasses and a blue woolen vest. Jack cleared his throat.

"Are you Otto Raines?"

"Yes?"

"The national museum of Kells films and lore?" The man grinned and waved Jack into the living room. The house was just as boring and normal as the neighborhood. A blond woman drying her hands on a dishrag peeped into the room from a warm kitchen.

"Honey?"

"It's a Kells visitor." The woman gave Jack a double look and wrinkled her nose.

"Ok." Otto turned with a conspiratorial grin.

"She hates my hobby. Come on back to the barn." Jack raised an eyebrow. Barn? Otto led him out the back door. Behind the house was a building the same size as the house. Otto paused at the door.

"I should tell you, this gets authentic." Jack swallowed memories of the dead Mac's crossing his mind. Otto pressed a keyboard and opened the door. Jack jumped at an ear piercing scream. He reached to the small of his back and paused. The main room of the barn looked like a bloody satanic cave. Jack whistled and walked further in. In the center of the room was an altar covered with blood and a woman's body cut in half with organs spewing out from the middle. Jack grinned. He pointed at it then back at Otto.

" _Satan's Sister!"_ Otto grinned.

"Finally, a true connoisseur! This is the actual set piece used during the final banquet." Jack bent and touched the model of the woman. His stomach churned. She felt like the fake Macs. Jack glanced at Otto.

"Who made Kells' stuff?"

"Oh he did all of the original molds, the sculpting was done by his wife." Jack turned.

"Wife?"

"Yes, Mave. Come with me." Jack followed the man up a narrow flight of stairs. Along the way he saw posters and memorabilia of every kind. After they get Mac back, he'd have to come back to poke around here more. Maybe he'd take Bozer. Jack's jaw clenched. After they got Mac back.

Otto stepped into a spacious office. He pulled a thick book off a stack. _Tales from Sleepy Hollow Green_. Jack smiled at Otto.

"You wrote the book about Kells." Jack wished he could use that pun on Mac. Otto laughed.

"I guess you could say that. While his body of work is impressive to the discerning few, his life is the real story." Jack waved the book.

"I can't wait to read this, truly. But I'm on a clock now and I need to know the highlights." Otto nodded.

"The Kells built the straight to DVD industry by themselves. They were visionaries-"

"A little more info less commercial."

"Right, Wendell and Maven met in art school. Maven was a sculpture and Wendell was a film student. They had three daughters-Fiona, Daphne and Judith. Wendell went into the military. When he returned, he was changed."

"Changed?"

"His movies before he left were deeper, more artistic. After he returned all his movies were more violent, sadistic even." Jack turned in thought.

"Where did he serve?"

Otto sighed.

"That's the weird thing. I have filed a Freedom of Information Act, but I haven't been able to find anything but rumors." Jack leaned forward his gaze piercing Otto through and through.

"Something about Ghost Units?" Jack leaned back a cold pit in his stomach. He'd heard about Ghost Units too when he was at the CIA. He also knew they were anything but rumors.

"I don't know, I think he started the rumors himself. You know add mystique."

"I'm sure you're right. So you were saying about his three daughters?"

"Yeah, debutantes. Every Halloween they would have an amazing party. Seven years ago at the party exactly at midnight something happened at Sleepy Hollow Green. No one knows exactly what, the official story is the girls had gone insane and set themselves on fire burning down the house. The official police reports are missing."

"Missing?"

Yeah, I did find this." Otto leaned across a long narrow desk and pulled a paper from a thick file folder. Jack read it, his eyes widened. It was a TEDAC intake tag. TEDAC is the FBI's analysis unit for IEDs sent from all over the world. Including Afghanistan. The IED this tag had been found at Bagram by PFC A. MacGyver.

"You know something about it don't you!" Otto exclaimed. Jack waved a hand absently as he turned and retraced his steps, "You have to tell me!" Jack paused at the door and took in the museum.

"Look, Bud, I appreciate this more than you know. If this pans out I'll come back and check this out for real. Thanks for the book." Jack walked around the house, hopped in the GTO and sped away. He pulled out his phone,

"Hey, Ri, I got something for ya…"

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Matty strode into Eda's. She paused to turn and spin the open/closed sign to closed. She turned and strode to the counter. Eda wasn't anywhere in sight. Matty pulled her KAHR pistol and crept to the back room. As she moved she heard voices arguing.

"Look, toots you got the info you wanted, time for pay up."

"I don't have time for this, Eda. You know I'm good for it." Matty frowned edging around a row of shelves filled with baking supplies. Eda stood over a tall thin woman with long stringy hair. Eda was smoking a cigar. Matty pulled out her phone and took a picture of the woman. Matty retraced her steps. She turned into the office and working quickly searched the room. Matty growled. Nothing. She moved to the door and froze. There was the sound of a scuffle and swearing. Matty considered her options. There was no love lost between her and Eda, but the woman was a useful resource...Matty frowned as the swearing broke off into screams of pain.

"You'll-"

"Pay for this? Typical." Matty flinched at the snap of gunshots. She spun and dashed toward the front door. She froze as she realized the woman was talking on a phone.

"Is he there yet? Seal it. And I want popcorn to watch. Make sure it's high def. You miss the veins popping and desperation in SD." Matty ducked under the display case. The woman came striding past and left the bakery. Matty sprung to her feet. She ran to Eda as the woman was gasping her last.

"Mathilda...box…" The woman pointed at a box of pant liners. Matty frowned and pulled the liners out. Underneath was a fat sealed envelope. Matty turned back to Eda, but the woman was dead. Matty strode out of the bakery pulling out her phone as she went.

"Riley, get everyone together. I might have a lead on Mac."

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

The nattering of insect feet and mandibles gnashing against each other was deafening. Mac clenched his teeth and twisted his head trying to get clear of the multiple tiny feet crawling in his nose, eyes, ears, and pressing through his tightened lips. Mac's head pushed back and he screamed. The miserable animal's sting didn't feel quite as bad as an actual bullet but his body froze in shock and pain with each sting. He had no idea how many times he'd been bit. Mac couldn't feel or move most of his body. He spit out a wriggling mass and shook his head again. He was able to move his right arm from the elbow down. Mac rolled onto his side. His neck muscles bulged and his veins popped as he felt his back assaulted by the large ants.

Mac slipped in the wet jelly of mashed ants under him. Writhing and spasming, Mac was able to push his body up on his elbow. His face broke the wriggling mass like a drowner surfacing. Mac spit out move ants and cried out trying to shake the rest off his face without startling them. All he needed was to get shot in his eyes or nose. He managed to shake ants out of his nose and off half his forehead. He forced that eye open. He winced at mandibles and sticky claws digging into his forehead. The corner of his eyelid was pulled back. Mac spit more crawling parts out of his mouth. He gagged.

"All right, pull him out." The voice echoed as if Mac was under water. Mac screamed as a steel pincher dug into his shoulder and chest. He was dragged out of the ant tank. He hung upside down squirming in pain. His world swung dizzily. The claw let go and he fell hard onto the cement. Mac curled up his body cramping. Then freezing water. Mac gasped and tried to rasp in a breath. He spit multiple times.

"Well, Angus. I'm afraid our fun has come to an end." Mac startled back. A figure stared down at him. Mac blinked the figure into focus. It took a long minute then he had it.

"You? Why? I never…" Mac choked crying out in pain at the pull on the bullet ant bites and burning in his lung. Another splash of freezing water.

"My babies, remember Angus? You liked which one...Daphne was it?"

"But-"

"Too late, murderer. Halloween is coming. All hallows eve, my innocent babies are alive tonight and they are coming for your life...and soul." Mac coughed and spit.

"I...I don't…"

"Oh shut up, I'm done." Mac caught a blur of movement and something heavy and sharp slammed into his head. The world winked out.


	9. Chapter 9

Silence and warm. Mac breathed out in relief. He was alone. He hurt, son of a bitch, did he hurt, but the sadistic games might be over. Might be. Mac slowly opened his eyes and frowned. Blackness? Not dimness but a complete absence of light. Had the agonizing sting of the bullet ants blinded him? His heart broke into a sprint and was loud in the silence around him. Mac tried to move his hands and almost screamed with pain. As he panted trying to rise above the pain he took in his situation. He could feel bandages taped around his shoulders. He was dressed. The fabric felt like a wool polyester blend. Mac closed his eyes trying to ignore the annoyance of the coarse material against the plethora of his ant bites. He forced his brain to keep working. It was probably a cheap suit. Mac scowled. He could feel wood along his bare back. He didn't like where his observations were leading him. Mac lifted his head. Mac groaned. He raised it up about five inches then whalopped it against a solid roof. He moved his fingers.

Mac winced. Both of his arms felt like they were beaten flat by a baseball bat. Both laid beside him. Mac felt Mac gritted his teeth swallowing down a scream of pain. There was only enough room for him to lift his hand a few inches above his stomach. The air seemed thick, closed in. No air moved. Mac closed his eyes. No, no, no…. With a stone weighing down his gut, Mac had to accept the face he was in a pine coffin, most likely buried alive. Panic burned through him like a fever. His entire body twitched with the need to move, to get out!

A sudden light over his head distracted him. It was a dim red light, but a welcome relief and an unwelcome dread.

"What now?" He whispered. He blinked until he could look into the light. Mac tried to swallow but he didn't think there was a whole lot of water left inside him.

It was a timer counting back from 5:00. Hours and minutes. Mac didn't have to do the exact math to realize that fit how much air he had left in the coffin. Beside the numbers, staring straight into his face was the lens of a camera. Of course his tormentor would watch. He wondered if there were other cameras in the box. He wouldn't be surprised if there were.

Mac jumped at a faint squawk then tinny muzak played. Mac raised an eyebrow. It was such a non sequitur he burst out laughing. Torture by muzak? Mac closed his eyes taking in the moment of humor. It didn't last. There was another squawk and the music changed to a fast drum beat. Mac closed his eyes. His heart automatically picked up the tempo. The timer lost 45 minutes. Mac closed his eyes. The speakers were less than an inch from both ears and throbbed through his head like spears. Mac gritted his teeth fighting not to scream. He had to stay calm or he'd waste the little air he had left. He had another 4 hours and 34 minutes to endure this then…

Jack-somebody, anybody- please! He silently screamed. Please hurry and help! I don't want to die. Please no… Please...He had to fight not to waste air and give voice to his gibbering terror.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Jack paced his long legs moving like a predator ready to attack prey. He rubbed his head.

"I heard back from Charlie. The parts of the bomb used at the psycho's installation is the same on on that tag fan guy gave you." Riley said. She leaned back. "Charlie said it'd been sent to TEDAC from Bagram, but never arrived."

"Why would a bomb never make it to the bomb analysis center?" Bozer asked. He wobbled from foot to foot arms crossing his chest. Matty and Jack shared a brief sour look.

"Smugglers." Jack growled.

"Why would smugglers want to smuggle an IED?"

"They'd resell them to terrorists or insurrectionists to use against our troops." Jack growled.  
"Our own soldiers would do that to our guys?" Jack rubbed his eyes. He couldn't fault Bozer for his naivete.

"It's not unheard of, "Matty said leaning over the stacks of paper in front of her. "But in this instance I don't think it was, not exactly." Jack stopped and chuffed.

"Ghost units." Bozer's eyes widened.

"Ghosts? Like ghost ghosts?"

"What? Don't be stupid there's no such thing as ghosts." Riley said shaking her head. Jack looked at her seriously.

"Yeah, Riley, there are."

"Jack! I thought we got you over your superstition when we went to the bermuda triangle." Jack shot the woman a dirty look.

"No, Bozer, it's not some Halloween spooky trick or treat. The government has had secret units in the military for years." Matty said.

"What? Why?" Bozer asked.

"It'd be a good way of keeping intel safe." Riley suggested.

"I wish it were something that nice." Jack grunted resuming his pacing.

"What do you mean?" Bozer asked worry wrinkling his brow.

"It goes back to WWI. Soldiers started showing signs of battle fatigue."

"Shell shock they called it then."

"PTSD." Riley added. Her soft eyes moved to Jack. She knew some of the troubles her teammates had from the action they'd seen over the years.

"Yeah." Jack's jaw clenched and he offered Riley a small smile knowing where her brain had taken her.

"And ghosts have what to do with this now?" Bozer asked.

"The powers that be decided they needed to find a way of either solving the problem of war stress, or use it." Jack said rubbing his eyes.

"Use it? Why do I suddenly not like the sound of that?"

"Psych-ops started making these Ghost units. Soldiers from all branches, all different types of fields and specialties." Jack started a hard look in his eyes.

"You can't be serious." Riley glanced up from her typing unable to hide the horror on her face.

"Yeah." Jack growled.

"What happens to these dudes?"

"Some are watched, their reactions to high stress situations studied." Matty answered.

"Those are the lucky ones." Jack mumbled. Matty raised an eyebrow. "I used to work for the CIA too, Matty. I heard the rumors." Matty pulled hair out of her face.

"Unfortunately they aren't just rumors."

"So you think Mac's unit was one of these Ghost units?" Riley asked.

"Why wouldn't he tell us?"

"Bozer, that kind of mission is beyond top secret…" Matty started. Jack stopped and turned his eyes wide.

"No, no, I bet he didn't know." The others looked at him startled. Jack smiled and leaned over the table, "Think about it. What job is more stressful than being an EOD tech, right? Add on top of that smuggling…"

"Yeah, Jack. We get this unit was a Ghost unit but Mac…"

"No, Matty, look. There is no way Mac would be part of any smuggling anybody who knows him knows that."  
"That's why they went off the grid just after he joined." Bozer said nodding.

"Do you think he narced on them? That's why he was Judas in that...that nastiness?" Bozer asked. Jack frowned and shook his head.

"No, he was too new. He was greener than mold back then. But they may not know that. They could have been exposed…"

"And thought Mac was the squeaky wheel." Riley nodded, "Makes sense, but why would they take him into a unit where he might betray them."

"If I had to guess, I'd say it was either a mistake or he was the token good boy, you know, the beard."

"The what?" Jack rolled his eyes. He turned to explain his idea. Matty saved him the trouble. She lifted up a group of papers.

"You're right Jack. I don't know how that bitch got them, but these are the original files about Mac's squad." Matty set them down, "The Colonel in charge of the EOD division handpicked the members of Mac's team. He trained them and was probably in charge of the smuggling ring. As far as I can tell Mac was the only outsider. I don't think it was an accident that this bomb had links to Mac." Jack's face grew hard.

"You think he was set up." Matty frowned and leaned forward putting a handful of pictures on the table.

"I'm no fan, but I'm guessing that's…"

"Weldon Kells!" Jack and Bozer said at once. One picture was of the EOD unit. Jack studied the picture. Mac was the only one that smiled at the camera. He was young and fresh beside the gaunt and hollow faces of his teammates. In the middle of the group Weldon Kells stood like General Patton smoking a cigar.

"According to records he's actually Colonel Justin Marks." Matty said reading from the papers in her hand.

"No, actually this is Colonel Justin Marks." Riley said. Everyone turned to look at the flat screen. A tall gangly man with a tuft of grey hair stared at the screen. He wore a torn uniform, blood poured down his face. Worst of all were the deep black pits of his eyes. He was standing, but was already dead.

"He died in combat back in 2002." Riley said.

"So who is this Weldon Kells guy?" Matty asked.

"He's a sick fuck." Jack snarled as he glared at the screen.

"And he's dead." Riley finished.

"What?" Jack asked his eyes narrowing.

"The guy in the middle of the Last Supper? He was Weldon Kells, or whoever was pretending to be." Jack shook his head and slapped his hand down on the table.

"This is getting us nowhere! We need to find Mac. The idea of him in the hands of this sick fuck…" Bozer moved to open his mouth, Jack silenced him with a glare, "Or whoever. The rest of Mac's unit killed themselves, every one. I think-"

Riley's computer beeped. Riley stood up typing, her face bright with happiness. She glanced at the others.

"I've been monitoring for any signals from Sleepy Hollow Green or anywhere nearby. One just blazed into life."

"Where?" Riley's nose wrinkled.

"I'm not sure where it's going, but it's emanating from a mausoleum for a Dr. Elawn Blood?" Bozer and Jack shared a grin.

" _Satan's Last Sting!"_ They both cried. Jack looked intently at Riley.

"It's a character in his first movie." Jack turned and gathered his TAC gear.

"Not one of his best, too derivative." Bozer added with a sour look. Riley frowned.

"It's not coming from a cemetery...it's a mall, the old Maryville mall." Bozer stepped back.

"Uh-uh." He hissed.

"Uh-uh what?" Jack groused over his shoulder as he strode to the door.

"Do you have any idea how haunted that place is?"

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Mac's body jerked with the suddenness of the silence around him. He glanced up to see the counter was down to an hour and a half. Then it blinked out. Mac sucked in air but his body was left craving more. He blinked his eyes until the fleeting red shadows slowly disappeared.

He forced his breathing to keep it's slow rhythm. Fear scorched through his body. What came next? Tears ran from Mac's face. The air was heavy. He felt as if a thick film of dirt coated his lungs as he took in and released the ever lessening air. The world sat on his chest, crushing the walls in closer. He was going to die here! Mac held onto his rational control by his fingertips feeling it tear like tissue as it was dragged away. Mac screamed and banged his head against the wood above him. He squirmed and cried out in pain as he managed to raised his hands a little. He desperately scratched at the pine. He could feel splinters tear into his skin and his bloody nails broke off deep into the wood. Mac didn't notice. He tried to kick but couldn't bend his knees.  
Mac's rasping breath drowned out his wildly thumping heart. No one would ever know what happened to him!

"JACK!" Mac screamed until his throat was too hoarse to produce sound. He thumped his head into the coffin's lid as he broke into a long strangling cough. Mac's body shook as he tried to take in whatever small amount of air was left. Tears ran down his face.

"Jack." He moaned.


	10. Chapter 10

The hall was giant and dark as a cave. The black stone walls curved in solid arches to a black rib vault above. 18 year-old Angus MacGyver fought to keep his mouth from dropping open. Frosty shoved him.

"Lucky 13 is blown away!" Mac's face flushed but he didn't lose his grin.

"I've never seen such high buttresses. I think that's black marble I wonder…"

"Enough! Stop thinking!"

"We brought you to have fun, already." Mac growled as one of the other EOD techs knocked his bobbin off his head. The others laughed and walked past him to spread out among the hundreds of people twirling to an ominous technobeat and hypnotising lights that seemed to come out of a low chilling fog. Mac tried to reshape the beaten hobo hat back into place then put it on again. His mouth was dry. He hadn't wanted to come. Mac wanted to spend his furlow with the same guys he saw day after day in the desert. When Bozer hadn't been able to come over, he had nothing else to do.

Mac itched his arm. The cheap ugly checked jacket he wore was scratchy against his skin. It still smelled like street and booze. He didn't really ask or want to know where his teammates had come up with it.

The hobo clown was the best costume he could come up with on such short notice. Frosty had reassured him the Colonel had spare costumes at Sleepy Hollow Green, but that felt like he was cheating somehow.

"What are you doing all alone up here?" Mac looked up startled to find himself surrounded by three of the most gorgeous women he could ever have imagined, if he dared to imagine such things. All three were dressed in lavish silk stolas over long graceful tunics. They all had the same honey-wheat colored hair and wide green eyes that flashed like emeralds in the laser show.

"You don't like the party?" One said curling around his arm.

"Urm...no, it's ok...better than ok...WAY better than ok…" Mac jumped when another one wrapped around his other arm and the third sidled up to his front wrapping her arms around his neck. Her green eyes became his whole world as she slowly kissed him. Mac felt wobbly and out of breath. His eyes widened and he flinched when he felt somebody's hands caress his buttocks.

"I'm Daphne." The blonde in front of him purred.

Mac's eyes slowly opened. His breath was loud in the blackness that curled around him. It hurt to breathe, to move, to...shit, anything. Sweat beaded and dripped down his forehead and face. It pooled in every crevice. The bad suit itched and he burned everywhere. Mac thought it was from the terrible ant bites. He'd changed his mind. They did hurt as much as bullet wounds. Mac's eyes sagged as he slowly wheezed in another breath.

He wondered where he was. The thought drifted to him from a long way off. No one was going to find him. Mac tried to clear away the dark thoughts but it took too much effort. He should be grateful, he supposed. Thanks to the torture he'd endured he'd probably fall asleep and slip away. Otherwise suffocating is the worst way he could think of to die. Not that any sounded good. Mac's head tilted away and his brain sank into dreams again, the only way he could escape the box shrinking around him.

 _Halloween is coming. All Hallow's Eve, my innocent babies are alive tonight and coming for your life...and your soul._ It should have been easy Mac drowsily chided himself. Who else would have the resources and motivation to go through all this? Mavan Kells...Mac's mouth curled up at the corners. Innocent, huh? Mac thought of the long perfect night he had with Daphne. Innocent my ass. Mac frowned a thought occurred to him as he drifted off. After the dance he'd run into Mavan Kells. The older woman dressed like a crazed ghoul with wild long hair and gnarled claws. Her voice was sultry, but her brown eyes looked red if you looked at them too long. Mac had always wondered if she dressed like that all the time? She had almost thrown Mac out. At the time, he'd written it off as mad mama bear. Looking back, was she jealous of Daphne?

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

"Ok? Everybody got it?" Jack said looking at all the TAC leaders. They nodded and went to load their gear in the ring of black SUVs. Jack carried his gear to the black van. He reached up to close the door when Riley grabbed his shoulder.

"Ri...What?" He could feel her excitement like static between them.

"Jack, I piggybacked into the signal. Listen." Jack stilled and leaned forward his eyes closed. Riley had a handheld radio in one hand and a homemade ball of wires in the other. She turned the volume up as high as it will go. Jack sat back letting out a deep breath. All he heard were long snoring breaths. He didn't like how congested the breathing sounded, but he was glad to hear it and the low mumble that occasionally broke through.

Jack's heart lurched at his name said in a slurred whisper. It held fatalistic sadness. Jack gritted his teeth. Mac had given up on him coming.

"Can I talk to him?" Riley nodded, "But whoever is streaming might hear us." Jack scowled. They wouldn't have the surprise advantage. A soft whimper of pain made his decision.

"Drive Ri." Jack said pushing her back and climbing into the back of the van. He barely noticed as the van lurched into life and sped toward the mall.

"Mac?" Jack's voice disappeared in a squeak. He cleared his throat and tried again, "Mac? C'mon buddy talk to me."

"J...K...you?" Jack had to press his ear against the speaker to hear the kid's weak voice. Jack smiled, feeling tears trail down his cheeks.

"Yeah, brother it's me. You don't sound so good, kiddo."

" 'm...dyin'." Jack could hear Mac's breathing hitch as he broke into a hissing laugh followed by deep gutted groan. Jack's fingers on the radio went white with the pressure he grabbed the radio.

"Uh-huh, no way. I refuse to hear that, bubba. I'm on my way and you better not think about being dead when I get there or I'll kill you myself." He heard a sharp intake followed by weak coughing.

" 'K. Know who...beh...hind…"

"Yeah, buddy we got a good idea too. Do you know where you are?"

"C...of..fin." Jack met Bozer's wide eyed stare.

"Sorry, brother, did you say coffin?"

"Yeah...not...no...air…" Jack closed his eyes as he listened to Mac desperately try to pull in enough air to catch his breath and struggle when there wasn't enough.

"Ok, brother, we're on our way there, ok? You don't talk, just listen ok? Mac made a grunting sound too tired to answer. Jack met Riley's eyes in the mirror. She nodded and mashed the pedal to the floor.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Mac fought not to fidget in the rough suit. Daphne leaned over and nibbled his ear. Mac broke into a surprised grin then blinked the brightness of the camera away.

"That'll be very nice." Wendell Kells said smiling. He was a giant mountain of a man with folds that seemed to plop over each other as he melted. Mac had never met the Colonel before and had no idea how he'd ended up in this EOD unit. He'd put in papers to transfer into Peña's unit but Kells was fighting it. As far as Mac could see he wasn't anything special. He had no idea why this bloated man wanted to keep him in Bagram. When he thought about it, his gut churned. Something was going on, but Mac had no idea what or why.

A meaty paw on his shoulder brought him back to the party. Kells deep dark eyes looked like holes in a skeleton's face as he studied Mac. The man's gaze travelled to his girls who stood in a triangle around the phone looking at pictures from the party.

"You are a good boy." Kells' deep voice was ponderous and sad. It didn't stop Mac from bristling at being called a boy.

"Sir-" Wendell leaned his head back and let loose with a belly laugh that would rival the angriest roar of a lion. Mac's ears vibrated with the sheer power of the sound.

"You're right, Private. You aren't a boy, are you? Anyone who works with bombs every day has earned the right to be a man." Mac scuffled his feet but couldn't stop the small smile. Wendell Kells put a thick arm across Mac's shoulders and turned him to face the writhing shadows dancing wildly in the fog. Mac's mouth went dry. The guests had universally gone as ghosts or ghouls. Beside them, Mac felt underdressed and naive-like someone's kid brother who forced his brother to take him to an adult party.

"What do you think?" Kells studied Mac's face closely. Mac could almost feel his skin and flesh being pulled back layer by layer as the man's empty eyes picked at his carcass. Mac began to wonder if there wasn't something more than the cold vapour of dry ice in the fog. He felt as if thick tendrils curled inside his skull and slowed the gears of his thoughts. It took him a second to realize he didn't answer the Colonel's question.

"It's amazing, sir. Truly spooky." Kells smile scrunched the corner of his eyes.

"Thank you, private. I'd like to think of it as the ninth circle of hell." Mac frowned rubbing his eyes. He was suddenly sleepy.

"Treachery, sir?"

"You know Dante?"

" _I thy guide will lead thee hence through an eternal space, where thou shall hear despairing shrieks, and see Spirits of Old tormented, who invoke a thousand deaths."_ Mac randomly quoted. He offered a shy smile to the man looming beside him. Mac squirmed with the intensity Kells studied him.

"Indeed, Angus. You have it exactly right." Mac opened his mouth to apologize, but the giant man spun and seemed to blur and vanish in a cloud of shadow. Mac rubbed his arms feeling chilled.

"Are you cold, lover?" Daphne was back draping around Mac like a cloak. Mac turned to grin at her.

"Not any more."

Mac let out a soft whisper of despair as the fragmented memory fluttered away. It had been a merciful dream. Now he again was suffocating in complete darkness. Mac closed his eyes fighting to breathe through the thickening pressure around him. Every breath was shallow no matter how much he fought. Mac closed his eyes as they flooded with tears.

"Jack." He moaned. Would he ever see his best friend again? Bozer? Riley or Matty? Anyone? He could feel a blackness darker than the complete absence of light around him bloom inside. He moaned as if it carved a giant hole in his chest. It wasn't in his nature to give up, but he really didn't a way out. He'd almost given up when manna came from heaven.

"Mac? Mac, c'mon buddy talk to me." Mac licked his lips and narrowed his eyes. Was he still dreaming? Was Jack in the coffin with him? Mac closed his eyes. It wasn't...it couldn't be real. How could he hear Jack? Well, Mac thought, all hypotheses needed testing and it wasn't like he had anything better to do.

"J...k...you?" Even though he said it as loud as he could, he doubted anyone in the coffin with him could hear it, let alone Jack who had to be miles away.

"Yeah, brother it's me. You don't sound so good." Mac hissed in pain as a laugh escaped. Not good? DUH.

" 'm dyin'." Mac mumbled as if Jack was a dim child. Couldn't he see how bad Mac felt? Mac groaned as he broke into a wet cough. Everything trickled away for a second. Jack didn't leave him. How could Mac ever thought he would? What was Jack babbling? It took effort but Mac tried to listen. He was distracted by the comfort of Jack's familiar cadence. He felt as if he were wrapped in a warm blanket, at home, sleeping off his cold...His eyes sank. He shook himself awake. Mac knew he didn't have long left. He'd be damned if he wasted it feeling sorry for himself.

" "k. Know who behind…"


	11. Chapter 11

Driving through the wide moonscape of the desert on a cold black night without stars was jarring. Listening to his partner struggle to breath over a staticky radio, was worse than any horror movie Jack imagined. He glanced at his watch. 15 minutes, if Mac was right. It would officially be Halloween in 15 minutes and Mac would be out of air.

"Mac, hang in there kiddo we're driving through Stubbs now and Riley's driving, you know she can go faster than a MiG, right?" Jack clenched the metal radio hard enough he thought that he would leave finger indents behind. His hands were wet with sweat. Lightning flashed on the horizon reminding Jack of enemy artillery.

"Mac, you still with me?" His voice was gentle and he closed his eyes silently reaching through the static and hold his kid's hand, let him know he was there. C'mon Mac, please answer. Jack mentally chanted. He heard a snort and mumble. Jack closed his eyes and let out a deep breath. It wasn't much, but he'd take it.

"That's it, brother. In and out. I'm almost there, I promise." Jack

Winced as Mac's uneven rasp for air stuttered in the static. Jack was running out of things to say. Riley met his eyes seeing his alarm.

"So, Jack, tell me about this place we're going. I've never been this far out." Jack threw her a relieved smile.

"Riley is asking for me to dip into my vast pool of knowledge. You

listen up, bud, I'm about to throw down some knowing for you too! Got me? I don't want to go through all this twice, K?" Jack paused. He thought he heard a sharpened breath. He allowed himself to believe it was Mac talking back.

"Back in the happy fifties, this rich dude named Stubbs-he was a something or other tech in Hollywood-"

"A gaffer." Boze interrupted. Riley slapped his arm and shot him a

Glare. Boze looked over his shoulder sheepishly, "Sorry, man." He whispered.

"Evidently Stubbs was a gaffer, you'll have to explain that to me after all this mess." Bozer moved to open his mouth. Riley narrowed her eyes. He nodded and turned around fighting the urge to interrupt Jack's flow of words. Jack ignored him.

"He got it into his head that the world needed another Las Vegas, as if that could happen am I right? Anyway he bought this land up in the middle of nowhere put in a drive in, hotel restaurant, mall and other stuff. But check this, no one came. Absolutely no one. The stores at that mall you're at are perfectly preserved with all the stuff in it, other than the stuff urban explorers stole, I suppose.

"Mac, you still with me?" Jack had to be satisfied with Mac's shaky wet breath, "Good, you keep it that way, right? You promised and I know you don't break your promises. You're starting to worry the kids on this end, but so if you could snort or something…" Jack smiled when they all heard a weak cough, "Good job, brother. Where was I?

"Oh, right. In the eighties, Kells bought the land and most of his movies were filmed out here, betcha didn't know that did ya, bud? Then..." Jack's mouth snapped closed and his eyes stared into the distance.

"Jack?" Riley asked.

"Something isn't right about this whole thing." Jack said.

"No kidding." Bozer snorted. Jack shook his head wishing more than

ever he had his partner beside him. There was something obvious they were all missing. Jack's hand balled into a fist.

"Mac, I really need you, brother. Something about all this ain' right. I know you already know...we're missing something obvious, you gotta work with me here, ok?"

"Something, like what?" Riley asked without looking back. She leaned over the wheel. It had started violently storming. The windshield wipers couldn't keep up with the water. It was as if someone with a bucket repeatedly threw water at the windshield. The wind howled like claws tearing into the metal flesh of the van shaking it along the road, a dirt trail through the desert more like. Riley gritted her teeth worried about flash flooding.

"I don't know, something obvious." Jack shook his head, "Never mind Mac, you can show us how stupid we are after we get you back home, ok? Brother, make some sort of noise for me so I know you aren't missing a pearl of my wisdom." Jack waited. Through the painful wet bone saw cutting of Mac's struggle to breathe Jack heard a rustling and moan. Jack ducked his head. Instead of relief he felt desperation.

"Riley! Make this shit box go faster, we're losing him!" Riley opened her mouth to argue then bit her lip and mashed her foot down harder.

"Easy, buddy. I'm here. I know you're scared, just focus on breathing, ok? Shh, shh, it's ok. We gotcha…" Jack closed his eyes and rubbed away the wetness leaking out and dangling on his eyelashes. He could hear weak gasps and whimpers. He could hear scratching and thumping as Mac desperately flailed against the tight confines of the coffin. Jack opened his mouth to keep offering support but nothing came out. He knew the final stages of suffocation. The animal doesn't die easily. Mac's body was burning off its final energy, and air.

Jack jumped as another hand closed around his. He looked up into Bozer's tearful eyes. Boze pried away the radio then leaned back in his seat talking into the radio. Bozer's voice broke, but he managed to keep the wail of despair they all felt out of his voice. Jack's shoulders slumped and he covered his face. Bozer was saving him from hearing Mac's last minutes.

"Riley, please-" Jack whispered. In answer the van bounced hard. Jack grunted as his head slammed into the roof of the vehicle. He landed with a whoof. There was a loud clang then Jack saw a rusted fence fly past in the headlights. It banged as it rolled over the roof. Jack had a glance of overgrown parking lot and the van rocked as Riley narrowly missed careening into the cement girders of tall overhead lights that loomed above like gnarled claws. Jack couldn't see much as they blew past the outside of the mall. Riley skidded the van to a stop by one of the side doors.

"He's downstairs in the food court." Riley gasped as she jumped out. Jack already had his AR-15 and bags in hand. He skidded in thick mud as he landed and pivoted to the door. Finally. He knew Boze and Riley were on his heels as he stormed toward the door at a fast run. Riley yelled something at him about a lock. Jack ignored her. He didn't slow as he levelled his AR-15 and blew off half the door. He had a passing image of candles and some sort of black gauzy stuff flying in cold fog as he hit the stairwell and bounded down the stairs.

Jack didn't turn at an ear splitting metal shriek.

"The door!" Bozer yelled from somewhere behind him. Jack didn't pause. He didn't care what was on his ass, he had to get air to Mac. Jack's chest cramped as if he too was suffocating. He ignored it and the cramp in his side as he hit a short hallway. The fog around him flickered with the light of thousands of candles. Who the fuck had time to light all those bastards? Jack thought absently as he flew through the wobbly nightmare.

Everything was surreal. There was the faint outline of a normal mall-a Pizza Hut, Panda Express all open as if ready to serve business, but empty, covered in cobwebs and flickering lights. Jack's heart pounded to the licking of the flames as he ran past. He paused huffing taking a second to see the entire food court as Bozer and Riley caught up.

"The...door…" Boze painted.

"They're all blocked...by...metal gates." Riley rasped. Jack nodded absently filing that under later worry. Riley raised her electric doodad. She pointed across the food court.

"Through that way... on the other side..of the mall there's a theater...Mac's there." Jack's mouth straightened in a sour look. Of course. Could this get any more fucked up?

Jack levelled his AR-15 and stepped into the cold mist his skin curling against skeletal fingers that seemed to reach out and pull at his clothing. He could hear faint whispering and the ground vibrated with something that shook his bones. Jack forced himself to remain calm. Hard to do when you were entering the gates of hell.

The food court's rotunda had shadowy figures slowly twisting in circles like a macabre dance. Black gauzy tatters swayed as skeletal hands reached out as Jack moved closer. Above them the upper level railing was draped with candles held in skulls thick red wax hanging over them like dagger sharp stalactites made of blood. Long tapestries hung of vague screaming shapes that came alive in the candle light and fog. The whispers became long moans of pleading and pain.

"Are they real?" Bozer whispered. Jack shot him a glance. He grinned.

"I hope they are...and alive." His voice was colder than the chill curling around the trio. He braced the AR-15 against his hip and let loose glad to finally be able to shoot something. The dancers exploded around him. Surprised real screams of pain joined the fake. Jack thought he saw a fountain of blood spray up from a few of the creepy props. He didn't stop or slow until they were through. He slammed in a new double taped clip and sprinted down the long central corridor of the lower level.

The store fronts they flew past had been mirrored. It was disorienting having two sides of infinity echo out from either side as they ran around a moldy fountain, rusting escalators and half open elevator with a bent door. And candles. Everywhere candles. Some were as tall as Jack, then hundreds of smaller ones. All of them black or red. Had to keep with the color scheme, Jack supposed. He wondered how much it must cost to keep them lit and who did it? Jack felt that same niggling in the back of his mind. It was so detailed, theatrical. There was something about that…

Jack saw movement out the corner of his eyes. He had no idea what or who it was. They weren't wearing Phoenix TAC, Jack zipped anything that moved in front or to the sides of him. A few of the mirrors shattered. Another century of bad luck, Jack silently groused. Jack reloaded on the run. Riley ran by his side and held out another pair of double clips. Jack shot her a quick smile as he tucked them in his TAC pouch. There was a circular open area. Jack slowed.

His chest heaved. Boze put his hands on his knees and looked like he was going to faint. Riley looked pale with a definite green tinge. She went to open her mouth. Jack shook his head and pointed to the edges of the rotunda. In the center where a triangular map of the mall would be, a woman with long straggly hair stood above a fire pit, her head back and crazy eyes flashing as she screamed. Chants came from all around them. There were moving shadows in the twinkling light coming from the fire. Out of the fire charred skeletons reached out to the woman in supplication. From the smell, Jack could tell the bones were real. As he crept through the hanging gauzed mannequins silently he studied the woman. She was familiar...but the hair was wrong. Jack thought it should be blonde...he frowned not sure why.

" _Fire Slut's Dream."_ Bozer whispered. Jack nodded. A complete replica of the final sacrifice scene from one of Kells movies, his worst movie in Jack's opinion.

"Is she real?" Riley asked clinging to Jack's elbow. Jack shrugged raised the AR-15 and shot the woman between the eyes. Her skull exploded. Blood and brains dribbled down her frozen face.

"Guess so." Jack grumbled. He shoved aside the last mannequin then led the run down another long corridor like the first. He screeched to a stop when they reached the door of the movie theater. His jaw dropped in shock.

Unlike everywhere else in the mall, bright lights shone from everywhere around the theater. The seats were all full-of MacGyver. Jack's mouth dried in horror. Every seat was filled by perfect replicas of dead Mac's. Some were covered in blood with gruesome wounds. One beside him had the familiar grin facing up at Jack the broken bones of his neck sticking out.

"This is sick." Riley spat. Jack nodded and forced his feet to walk down the aisle. The fog seemed to waft over the fake bodies carrying a heavy stench of blood and decay. Jack choked swallowing bile. He heard one of his team mates puke behind him. Jack shook himself and moved to the stage faster.

If the rest of the building was scene setting, the stage was a disgusting masterpiece. A large 4 poster bed sat at the top of a raised dais. On it was tied another MacGyver wearing striped pajamas. His face was frozen in a scream of agony. Jack had to touch it to reassure himself it wasn't the real Mac. Whoever had sculpted it had gone full out. Shining tears ran down the greyish-pale face, veins popped in the kid's forehead, and Jack could almost see fake-Mac's throat muscles spasm with the force of his scream. Laying sprawled across his body were three blondes dressed like ancient goddesses. Their faces were masks of bloodlust and fury as they leaned forward and pulled Mac's entrails out and ate them. Jack turned away taking a second to breathe. Ok, focus.

"Mac? MAC, can you hear me?" Jack screamed startling his team mates. He turned to study the bed. He was so close he could feel it. Jack handed the AR to Riley and attacked the bed. He grabbed the fake blonds and tore them off the bed. They landed with a rubbery bounce.

"Jack, he here?" Bozer said rushing forward to help.

"Has to be." Jack grunted cutting fake-Mac free and tossing him off the bed. Jack winced, "Sorry, fake-brother."

Riley and Boze pulled the mattress and bedding off. Below that was a plain cement square the top was darker showing more recent pouring.

"MAC!" Jack screamed. He whirled grabbed the AR-15, "Stand back!" He shouted. The two younger Phoenix agents scattered with shouts of alarm. Jack shot a careful stream of bullets along the farthest edges. He leaned forward whirling the rifle and slammed the cracked cement over and over with the butt. Riley and Bozer jumped in and worked chunks of stone away. They worked at a fevered pitch. It felt like hours later they hit pine. Jack reared back and slammed the butt down on the wooden coffin. It splintered. Jack shoved the sharp boards aside. There, finally, was Mac blue and unmoving.


	12. Chapter 12

Jack balanced on either side of the broken coffin and grabbed Mac by the shoulders of the ugly cheap suit. Jack almost fell backwards when the jacket came off Mac with one tug. Jack tossed the useless garment away and reached down pulling the kid up by his arms.

Mac looked terrible. His body was covered with blotches of target shaped red circles swollen to black bruises and blue was a terrible color. Jack's heart pounded as he pulled Mac to him gently. Even through the solid crust of dried blood Jack could see torn flesh. Jack winced. By tugging off the suit like he did he'd reopened whatever wounds tore across Mac's chest. Blood flowed free.

Jack grunted and hopped behind Mac's back and pulled his head toward Jack's chest. Bozer jumped down into the coffin and hauled up Mac's feet. Riley held Mac's middle as they awkwardly pulled him from the black hole he'd been trapped in. Jack kicked the mattress to the floor and stretched Mac out.

"C'mon, brother...c'mon, Angus." Jack whispered as he tilted Mac's head opening his airway. His hand shook as he reached for Mac's carotid. He closed his eyes and dipped his head closing out everything but the feeling of Mac's neck under his fingers. C'mon, c'mon… Yes!

"He has a pulse-barely." Jack breathed out. Mac's team mates shared a brief grin of relief. Riley pulled out a small O2 tank and connected a mask. Jack put a hand on Mac's chest. Nothing. Shit.

"Riley, oxygen!" Riley handed him the mask. Jack gently covered Mac's nose and mouth. Jack studied Mac's face. A fist sized bullseye spread out from the corner of his left eye swelling it shut. Mac's nose, lips and cheeks were covered with different shades of bruises and a long scrape covered most of his lower right face. Jack put a hand on Mac's chest he could feel it rise as his lungs filled with oxygen.

Mac jerked and his arms flailed. His eyes were wide with panic and his mouth opened as he desperately tried to breath. Jack lifted Mac's back up then crouched behind him. He didn't know how bad Mac's chest was hurt. He wrapped his hands around Mac's gut and clenched them together just over Mac's belly button. Jack jabbed his hand hard against Mac's gut. Air exploded out Mac's mouth. Mac blindly grabbed Jack's arm as he sucked in another quick breath. Jack waited ready to pull again, but Mac seemed to deflate forward with a stuttered moan.

Jack let out a deep breath of his own. Jack felt Mac's blood soak his shirt. Jack replaced Mac's oxygen mask and pushed Mac's hands away as the blonde reached up for it. Bozer knelt in front of Mac and slowly cleaned off the blood on Mac's chest. Riley handed him gauze and tape.

Jack leaned his forehead against Mac's shoulder feeling as if he'd just climbed Mt. Everest. His nose wrinkled as he took in Mac's smell. Mac slurred something and tried to wriggle free. Jack could feel Mac's chest rumble as it heaved trying to take in air. Jack gently held him so Bozer could finish his first aid.

"Easy, brother, easy." Jack said in Mac's ear. Mac jumped and moaned half turning to see Jack. Mac's pupils were huge and he fought to get free. It was clear Mac was still out of it. Jack slid to the side balancing Mac against his knee. Jack gripped both sides of Mac's face. Mac slurred a frightened protest and thrashed his head back and forth trying to free it. Jack leaned forward.

"Mac! Mac! We're here, you're out...shhh...it's ok, brother.

You're safe." Mac's hand twisted Jack's sleeve as he stared at Jack blinking his eyes. Mac's mouth moved with each congested breath. Jack frowned. What the hell did they do to him? Jack gently shook Mac's face. Mac's eyes widened. He tried to push free. His eyes darted around him as he frantically looked at every shadow, nook and crevice. Jack held onto Mac's head tighter keeping the blonde from seeing the macabre still audience watching them. Jack opened his mouth to talk to Mac when Riley jumped up with a startled cry. All three men jumped. Mac redoubled his efforts to wriggle free. Jack pulled Mac closer trying to calm the blonde. He shot Riley a questioning look. Riley stepped forward stomping on something. Jack looked down. A giant squashed ant. Jack's eyes widened. He took in the number of swollen circles on Mac's body.

"Bullet ant?" Riley asked bending down. Jack and Bozer shared a look of horror.

"A lot of them." Bozer whispered horror on his face. Jack pulled Mac's head to his shoulder and curled around the younger man. He could feel Mac shaking. He realized the kid was cold, or in shock. He looked up at Riley who had already fished out and was unfolding a mylar emergency blanket. Mac's chest shook and Jack could hear Mac's breathing loud against his ear. Mac reached out as if to grab something in the air. Jack gently took his hand. He and Bozer switched places as Riley wrapped Mac in the blanket. Jack pulled Mac forward until the kid's head hit his shoulder. Jack put a hand on the back of Mac's neck and murmured nonsense things in a soothing tone as he ran his hand through Mac's hair. Jack grimaced as he pulled out two other ants netted against Mac's scalp. Mac cried out and flinched forward.

"Dammit." Jack growled as he squished the bugs in his hand. Jack felt a trickle of blood from the fresh bite.

"Jack!" Mac called. Jack winced at the despair and fear in his brother's voice.

"We're here, brother. We're here." Mac slowly stilled. He leaned back. Bozer supported Mac's back. Mac huffed in a number of painful breaths as he took in Jack's presence.

"Jack?"

"Yeah, brother it's us. See Bozer and Riley are here." Mac glanced around him dazed. Mac turned back to Jack and flopped curled forward his arms circling Jack; his fists twisted the back of Jack's jacket. Mac started to shake. Bozer sat back and nodded at Jack. He'd finished badaging the blonde's. Jack pulled the silver blanket around Mac completely then drew Mac close to him.

"Why don't we check in with Matty?" Riley said softly. Boze nodded. Riley kissed Mac's cheek, "It's ok, Mac. We're not gonna let anything happen to you." She whispered. Bozer squeezed Mac's shoulder gently.

"Take a minute, bro. It's ok. We are so-so glad we got to you in time." Bozer said. He nodded at Jack then joined Riley. Jack ignored them as he closed his eyes and kept mumbling in soothing tones. He could feel Mac's tears and snot smear into his shoulder as he rocked the kid. It could have been a minute or a millennium before Mac stuttered in a breath that broke off into a weak string of coughs. Jack felt Mac slump in his arms. Jack gently laid Mac back making sure the oxygen mask stayed in place. Mac sniffed. He turned to Jack and smiled. Jack stared at him in disbelief.

"Took...your time." The blonde gasped. Jack smiled and wiped his eyes. Mac laughed then put a hand on his chest letting out a moan, "Y...you crying?" Mac whispered reaching out and grabbing Jack's T-shirt. Jack laughed.

"Shut up, dog." The pair fist-bumped and sat staring at each other a long minute. Jack let out a relieved breath glad it was over. The second he thought it, he was proven wrong.

Canned applause exploded from speakers around the room. Mac looked at Jack panic in his eyes. Jack put a hand in the middle of the kid's chest offering reassurance and keeping the kid from moving. He still had to check the kid over properly. Jack reached over and pulled his AR-15 closer.

"That was...magnificent." Jack narrowed his eyes. Even through the mechanical alteration he knew that voice, but he couldn't place it.

"Come down here, you son of a bitch!" Jack pulled the AR-15 to his shoulder. Squinting against the bright lights of the large room, he scanned the space around them. Nothing moved.

"No, no cliches won't do. Tell you what, get yourself ready and tomorrow we'll finish act 2. Sound good? Perfect." There was a click and the lights went out. Jack grimaced. All the fake Mac's glowed in the dark. He pivoted at Mac's course intake. Mac was face to face with the fallen statue of Mac being eaten by the three women. Jack squeezed Mac's shoulder. Mac jumped. He struggled to sit up. Jack tried to hold him down, Mac shoved his arm aside.

"I...I think we...should catch up." Mac mumbled breathlessly. Jack clicked on his maglite and scanned the area around them including the ceiling. All four sides had ten feet open area and he could see nothing hanging over him. This place was as defensible as anywhere else in the mall. Wandering around the enemy's stronghold was never a good idea. Jack sat on the mattress beside Mac.

"I hope you like fucked up Halloween stories." Jack growled. He could feel Mac's body coil tight beside him.

"N...not really." Mac's voice cracked in mid breath. He jumped as Bozer sat beside his feet. Riley paced in the light from Jack's torch. She talked to Matty her soft voice echoed loudly in the silent dark theater.

"I hear ya, brother. I hear ya."


	13. Chapter 13

Mac had a hard time following what Jack told him. Jack had pushed the maglite towards Mac who picked it up and clutched it in a white knuckled grip. Even cradling the light as if it was his only source of heat, the darkness around him had fingers reaching out to grab him, claw him...Mac jumped when Jack put gentle hand on his shoulder.

"You with me, kiddo?" Jack spoke softly. Bozer had fallen asleep across the foot of the mattress. Mac gulped and nodded. Before he could say anything, Riley crouched beside them. Mac looked away. With the flashlight pointing up at her face, her Rileyness was washed away. She looked like a half-buried skull. Mac shuddered at the thought and turned away. Riley shared a worried glance with Jack.

"I just heard from Matty. The storm washed out most of the roads between Stubbs and LA. Phoenix TAC teams are here and surround the building, but they don't have the equipment to weld through the gates."

"The roof?" Jack asked leaning forward. He rubbed his eyes trying to think of a way in-or, more importantly, out.

"There's no air access, the vents are sealed." Jack frowned.

"Sealed? How can they be sealed?"

"They were built as one way shut off valves." Mac's hoarse whisper cracked. Mac hunched forward his eyes returning to the ghostly lit dead MacGyver audience. Jack tightened his hand on Mac's forearm to keep him focused.

"What are you talking about?" Mac licked his lips and turned back to his teammates. Jack bit his lip. The bright light of the maglite he clung to washed out what little color he had. With the swollen bruises and bites, he looked like he was melting. His wide terrified eyes made him look young.

"This mall is a smaller version of the first mall Southdale in Edina, Minnesota. Victor Gruen designed it to be used as a protective city in a nuclear war." Mac swallowed and offered Jack a watery smile, "I remembered that...when you told me about it." Jack grinned.

"You heard me?" Mac's face turned serious and he met Jack's eyes with a serious look.

"You...it kept me alive." The two men shared a silent moment. Riley cleared her throat.

"Sorry to interrupt," Riley's voice was quiet her eyes gentle. Mac flinched when she put an arm on his shoulder, "Do you remember anything else that would help them get it?"

"Or us out?" Jack urged with a smile that crinkled the corners of his eyes. He wasn't surprised Mac proved smarter than him on something he thought he knew more about-a familiar situation. Jack was glad that in the suffocating darkness he had been able to reach out and hold onto Mac and comfort him someway.

"The tunnels maybe." Mac said. He leaned forward and bit his lip, his eyes gaining some of their curiosity and sparkle. He continued when he saw the confused looks of his companions, "In Southdale, Gruen had put in a basement designed to work as a bunker if needed. A series of tunnels ran under all parts of the mall. He intended them to lead out to neighboring buildings. He never finished them, but most malls since then put in tunnels to make it easier for security to move around the mall quickly. The generators, security central monitoring and environmental controls are usually in the basement.

"When this mall was built there were an increase of domestic threat-"

"Muharem Kurbegovic set of a load of bombs and used gas...what?" Bozer bounced up to sitting and leaned forward excited, a little too excited. Riley slapped him across the shoulder.

"Could you please not mention mad serial-bombers when we're locked in the middle of a frickin' haunted with serial killers?" Riley gritted. Bozer opened his mouth then glanced at Mac. Bozer nodded. Mac was hunched into a ball. He had scooted close enough to touch Jack; Mac probably didn't realize he'd even done it.

"You're right, sorry." Bozer scooted closer to Jack. He froze when Jack narrowed his eyes and threw him a glare. Bozer felt the creepy darkness curl and bend around them. He took a deep breath reassuring himself that he was not buried alive like Mac.

"Anyway...Mac, you still with us, kiddo?" Mac stared at the flaccid statue that had covered his coffin. Jack couldn't see enough of the blonde's face to see the effect on the kid. Jack could feel fine tremors quake through his partner. Mac jumped when Jack reached over and tugged the mylar emergency blanket tighter. He was relieved to find the younger man puzzled instead of more traumatized.

"What's up, bud? What are ya thinking?"

"Something isn't right." Mac frowned. His eyes turned introspective. Jack could almost see information scroll through Mac's memory. Jack leaned forward.

"I was thinking that too! There's something...off, that we're missing." Mac nodded and tugged on his bottom lip.

"It all comes back to Kells." Bozer said.

"Except he wasn't Kells…" Mac turned to Riley with an intensity that made her squirm.

"What?" Riley remembered he hadn't been there for the information Matty had gotten from Eda.

"Yeah, we need to catch you up…" Bozer said. Taking turns the trio told Mac all of their information...and experiences. Mac turned away and held his hand over his mouth when he heard about the gruesome last supper.

"Mac?" Jack asked squeezing the blonde's shoulder. Mac held up a hand closing his eyes as he fought puking. After a handful of deep breaths, Mac turned back.

"Sorry. That's...I don't even know what."

"No kidding." Riley said putting a hand on Mac's shoulder. Mac smiled and patted it. He rubbed his face wincing at the bites on his hands and the torn agony of his chest.

"OK. So Weldon Kells was a movie maker who went into the military sometime in the '70s, came out in the '80s and started making bad movies on the straight-to DVD market."

"And made an ass load of money." Bozer added.

"That explains how he has money to do all-this."

"In the military he worked as a Colonel probably in psych-ops, he put together my EOD unit and used them for smuggling. One of the bombs I disarmed in Bagram somehow made it back to the states and was used to blow up Sleepy Hollow Green and killed Kells and probably his wife. The girls…" Mac's voice caught as he looked at the warped version of the triplets gnawing apart his corpse. He thought of Daphne and sighed. He jerked back to his summary when he noticed the others studying him with worry.

"Who went insane and burned themselves alive. Right?"

"Yeah, except all your EOD buddies-"

"We weren't buddies."

"-who killed themselves and somehow their corpses made their way to a dungeon trap designed for you, where you're Judas." Riley finished. Mac frowned studying the faintly glowing audience. He wondered how much time had passed. He crossed his arms around the maglite trying to bring warmth to a chilled area inside him. He could feel eyes watching, gathering, waiting…

"Mac?" Mac bit back a scream when Jack shook his arm. He offered a sheepish smile.

"Sorry. Now the "Jesus" in the last supper was Kells who wasn't Kells but a military Colonel named Justin Marks. And someone is really pissed at me." Mac rubbed his head wincing at the bruising and swelling. He hurt and was tired and now a headache was inviting itself to his growing party of misery. Mac sneezed unable to hold back a cry of pain. His chest felt full and broken as he tried to wheeze in air. The light wobbled to blackness for a minute. Mac opened his eyes surprised to see his three friends crouched around him. They'd laid him flat, his head on Riley's lap.

"You need sleep." Jack said. Mac frowned. The silver blanket covered him except his bare chest. Jack nimbly and gently ran his fingers along Mac's skin. The familiar warm callused hands were dowsing rod feeling out ever sore spot. Mac groaned and folded upward when Jack felt along his lower right ribs. Mac flopped back trying to move his lungs enough to take in oxygen. The light flickered like a loose light bulb.

Mac blinked confused. Jack leaned over him; his mouth moved but no sound broke through Mac's haze. Mac closed his eyes and took slow deliberate breaths that made him shake with pain. He reached out automatically and Bozer took his hand. Mac grimaced as he sneezed again. Mac coughed. Snot and tears ran down his throat. He moved to wipe his face. Riley caught his hand. Mac's breathing drowned out her comforting murmurs. Instead, she ran her fingers through his hair. Mac could feel himself relax. He wanted to sleep. The others would keep him safe-

Mac frowned. He tried to say something, but his words came out as a slurred hum. His eyes were heavy and he felt his muscles work out to keep them open. Mac curled inward as he exploded into a long coughing fit. Everything was swirling and hot as if he were hanging over the flames of hell. A lemony wipe washed his face. Mac felt the blanket pulled tighter around him as he shivered. His gut churned. Familiar hands log rolled him onto his side. Mac coughed and spit. Through his slitted eyes he distantly noted it was blood. Mac thought it was something he should be worried about, but he didn't have the energy. He was too weak and sick. He barely twitched as a needle stabbed his right deltoid. Riley's gentle touch sent him off into a comfortable sea.

The remaining three Phoenix agents sat in silence around Mac not wanting to disturb him and to protect him. They left only one of the maglites lit. Jack looked up feeling Riley's eyes on him.

"What?" He asked. His hushed voice barely above a whisper. In the silent eerily lit vast chamber, it sounded like a scream.

"Are you ok, Jack?" Jack smiled and reached across Mac's curled up form to brush Riley's arm.

"I am now." Riley smiled back. Jack turned to see if Bozer had fallen asleep again. He realized that Bozer hadn't slept since the morning Jack and Mac had returned from Jamaica, "You ok, Boze?" Boze leaned forward staring into the maglite hypnotized. He didn't react to Jack's question. Jack leaned over and tapped Bozer on the shoulder. Bozer gave a startled yelp and jumped back in surprise. Jack glanced at Mac relieved to see his partner still slept undisturbed. Riley raised an eyebrow.

"What did we give him?"

"I don't know. Doc Carl mixed it up." Jack whispered. He grimaced. It had been a small needle, but this was the second time he'd drugged Mac without letting him know. It turned his stomach. Jack focused on Bozer instead.

"Are you ok, Boze?"

"Now that I got over the heart attack you just gave me!" Bozer said his hand on his chest. Jack rolled his eyes.

"You over there thinking about serial killers?" Riley teased. Bozer looked at her seriously.

"Kinda. I was thinking of those." Bozer pointed his thumb over his shoulder indicating the rows of ghostly MacGyvers.

"Yeah, creepy." Riley agreed.

"No...well yeah, but that's not what I was thinking. They are amazing-disgusting and sick-but impressive. The coloring, the materials and the exactness of each copy...sheer genius."

"Glad you approve." Jack muttered.

"No, I don't approve...well sorta I guess…"

"Get to the point, Bozer."

"Each one of these had to take months to make. Even if you mass made the general molding each one is unique. This must have taken forever, and cost a butt load of money."

"Kells or whoever had plenty of both." Jack said rolling his neck to loosen up the tightness in his shoulders.

"True, but he didn't have the skill."

"You said Mavan was probably the sculpture." Jack said around a yawn. Bozer froze staring at Jack. Jack blinked, "What?"

"I never said that." Jack stared at him. The niggling in the back of his head grew louder. He leaned forward his brow wrinkled.

"I thought…" _...You were saying about his three daughters? ...yeah, debutantes. Every Halloween they would have an amazing party. Seven years ago at the party exactly at midnight something happened at Sleepy Hollow Green. No one knows what, the official story is the girls had gone insane and set themselves on fire…_ Fireworks of connections burned through Jack's brain. He wondered if this is how Mac felt all the time. If it was, Jack had a whole new respect for the kid.

"The official story." Jack said shaking his head. It was so obvious. He realized the other two were studying him with amused looks, "You didn't tell me, Otto Raines did."

"The head of the fan club-"

"Museum."

"Whatever."

"Yeah." Jack turned to face the slumped statue of the three bitches eating MacGyver. He squinted his eyes trying to place the fanged figure with the brief second of memory, "He's behind it. Him and his wife." Jack said rubbing his hand together. He felt adrenaline flood his system. He finally had a target.

"What?"

"Why? How do you know?"

"Look, the original Weldon Kells died back in the '80s right?"

"Yeah."

"Then fake Wells died in 2002 right?"

"Colonel Justin Marks?"

"Yeah, but we saw pictures of Mac at the party when the building went up seven years ago." The others gaped at him.

"So…?" Bozer asked.

"When I passed through Otto's house I saw his wife." Jack pointed at the fallen statue beside them, "Take away the fangs and blood, add an apron and that's her."

"You sure?" Jack nodded. Bozer's eyes widened.

"Add slimy hair-"

"And you get the weird priestess chick Jack shot." Riley said, "Only she was older."

"I bet she was Mavan."

"And wifey had to be one of the twins." Bozer itched his chin.

"The story was the triplets were insane, but this...shit." They sat in silence for a long minute. Jack opened his mouth to speak when an ear splitting scream jolted all of them. It was Mac screaming for his life. Jack reached out and grabbed the blonde's arm alarmed. After a handful of pounding heartbeats, Jack realized Mac hadn't screamed. Mac looked up at Jack disoriented, his eyes wide, but not alarmed. The scream sounded again. Mac bolted upright grabbing Jack's arm. His rough breathing was fast and harsh.

"Easy brother. Our neighborhood sociopath set his alarm clock a little high." Jack whispered dryly. He slowly raised the AR-15 studying the dark theater. He rose to a crouche and circled. The statues around them no longer glowed. Jack felt a stab of fear in his gut. Evidently it was time for act two.


	14. Chapter 14

Jack winced as another blood curdling scream blared across the theater. The deafening terror reverberated through the walls and floor, rattling deep in his bones. Jack could feel a wave of sound thump against his chest. He flinched and bent to help Mac to his feet. They had to get out of here. Mac gasped and backed away when Jack touched his arm. The kid stared at him blankly a minute.

"C'mon, time for us to move." Mac swallowed back a sneeze and nodded. He reached out an arm and Jack stooped and ducked under pulling Mac up with his right arm. Riley did the same on the other side. Mac's face blanched, and he wobbled with eyes closed.

"Easy kiddo."

"Here, Jack. I got him." Jack turned the flashlight at Bozer adding a glare. Boze pointed at Jack's AR-15. Jack nodded and stepped aside letting Bozer take Mac. Jack slung his bag over his shoulder and turned to step down the dais. He'd gone one step when another scream thundered through the room. It ended with a gurgle of agony. A new noise joined the torment playing around them. Jack looked up as they were suddenly surrounded by movement.

"Oh my god!" Riley cried.

"I'm gonna be sick." Bozer added. In larger than life film, images of Mac drowning in a sea of monster bullet ants surrounded them. Every wall, the screen behind them and the ceiling playing giant stings as Mac drowned in a moving pool of pain. All played with the deafening sound track of Mac screaming in agony and chomping insect mandibles. Jack turned away focusing on the path to the door. Still he couldn't avoid the sight of the mindless giant ants piercing his brothers skin and fighting to climb inside his flesh. Jack fought vibrating flares of panic. He actually took a step to run before he clamped down on his fear and channeled it to anger.

Jack's eyes darted to Mac. Ironically Mac was calmer than all of them. Jack didn't know if it was the medicine he'd given Mac, if he felt that sick, or if the kid was overloaded with fear. Jack didn't care, he'd take it. Mac hung half limp between Riley and Bozer staring at the ceiling. He smiled and pointed. Jack followed his finger and grinned back.

Hidden in the high rafters above them on each wall, Jack could barely make out a tiny light. Bingo. He handed the maglite to Bozer so the trio would have both. Boze opened his mouth to complain. Jack interrupted him.

"Get out of here as soon as everything goes dark." He whispered. "I'll be right behind you." Riley nodded and tugged Mac and Boze behind her. The trio awkwardly climbed down to the floor. Jack waited until they were starting along the central aisle then raised the AR-15.

Hitting a target smaller than a lightbulb from 40 feet was a hard shot to make, especially with snap aiming, but Jack had been one of the world's best snipers for a long time. He'd spun on the second light before the first shattered. In less than a minute the theater plunged into silence and dark.

Jack let out a breath of relief glad to have the solid world back. If he never saw any kind of creepy-crawly again it would be too soon. He lept down to the ground taking a second to rebalance then ran for the flickering flashlight ahead of him.

Jack skidded to a stop spinning, his AR-15 searching the near blackness. Something had rustled to his left. Close. He heard a scrape behind him. Jack turned to his right but couldn't see anything. Maybe Boze had a point, Jack should have kept his flash. Jack's hair stood up and he could feel his skin bump with tension. Jack jumped. He breathed out. Mac had sneezed. Jack sped up. Mac curled over groaning in pain. Jack heard the soft murmur of the three kids talking. Jack relaxed a notch. It was probably his imagination. They all wanted out of this hell hole.

There was a thud beside him. Close. Jack's heart sprinted faster. The lights went out. Jack heard Riley scream. A loud scrape followed by a slap of flesh against flesh less than a foot behind his head spun him around. Jack blindly lashed out with the butt of the AR-15. An oily warm fluid splattered his arms and face. It wasn't blood. Jack didn't have time to worry about it. A bright light shone his way, lighting up a shuffling mass of dead MacGyvers staggering toward him and up the aisle toward his three teammates. Jack felt the bottom fall out of his stomach.

"JACK! Hold on-" Jack had a brief flash of Bozer trying to fight toward him through the disgusting nightmare.

"NO, you keep going no matter what! Get Mac out of here; I'll catch up...Got me?" The light flashed out. Jack kicked in front of him and groaned when his foot tangled in a ribcage. The absolute darkness was a blessing. Jack was fine fighting zombies, but all of them wearing a dead version of his brother-Jack would rather never see again. Jack backed up and fired the AR-15. He heard the familiar plop of a bullet shattering skull, but the shuffling in front of him didn't stop. A cold hand curled around his throat.

"Blagh!" He screamed ducking forward before icy fingers tightened on his Adam's apple. Jack stepped back and threw the thing over his shoulder-or tried. It was heavier than he thought. He felt like he was tugging on a cement pillon. Jack growled and twisted his grip until he heard the shoulder dislocate. He twisted and yanked the arm off. Jack grimaced, his skin crawling. He forced bile down and headbutted another Mac zombie clinging to his throat. Another flash of light reassured Jack the others were still alive and fighting.

Jack could see through a hole bored through a half-bloody skull, half melted MacGyver's face as he turned. Jack punched the missing nose and winced as half of the bone shattered showing some sort of electronic machinery. Jack could smell the blood, but they were all robot-zombie Macs, with real bones. Wonderful. On top of a robo-zombicolypis they probably had an ancient Indian curse to deal with. Jack felt the pommel of a long sword poke into his chest. He stepped back, let the AR-15 drop on its sling, and grabbed the sword. It came out surprisingly easily. Jack whirled with all his might and swung to behead the monster. The neck broke and the skull/ mask stared at him sideways. Jack felt a claw grip the back of his T Shirt. Glancing over his shoulder he could sense movement, a lot of movement. Gnarled claws, some bone some flesh-cold plastic shuffled toward him. No matter which way Jack moved to go arms tore at him; legs tripped and kicked him. Jack grimaced bright comets of pain exploding as a blood coated bony fist nailed him in the jaw. Jack blindly punched back. He hit something, but the wriththing press around him didn't stop.

Jack closed his eyes, they weren't helping anyway and focused on his other senses. He slashed out with the sword, aiming low. He removed the knee of one of the zombie Macs. It tilted, Jack shoved it back taking two of its brothers to the floor. Jack jumped through the gap. His feet tangled with another monster Mac's legs. Jack fell to his knees. Legs moved closer penning him. Jack growled when they began kicking him. Jack cried out in pain when one of the solid horrors fell across his right leg. He felt a twang in his knee and something gave in his back.

"SON OF A BITCH!" He roared. Crippling agony burned up his thigh. He'd landed on top of the AR-15. Jack tried to suck in a breath, but the heavy statue smacked him with its blonde bloody head hitting him directly in the solar plexus. Jack roared and arched his back. He managed to squirm free from the weight. He grabbed onto the nearest Mac and climbed up the shuffling thing. Jack shoved to his feet. He'd lost the sword. Jack let loose with a right haymaker. He heard the snap of bone and another foe fell away. Jack pushed back grimacing as agony rippled along his lower back.

Jack shoved away the closing bodies to his left buying time to grab his AR-15. Putting most of his weight on his left leg, he swung it back and forth. He found he could move his left knee. It hurt like hell but supported his weight, barely. Holding the AR-15 across his chest, Jack bellowed channelling his inner Larry Allen. Jack thrust his shoulders into the pressing crush between him and his team.

Jack almost fell on his face when several robo-zombies dropped like dominoes in front of him. Jack groaned struggling to get to his feet. Well, it worked once. Jack focused all of his strength on one direction-up the aisle.

Jack fell to several times each hurting more than the last. He winced as cold fists pulled his clothes taking skin with it. Jack smacked the armpit of the bony claw that had a solid grip on his ear. He yelled in pain as the body fell away but the arm hung limply still attached to his ear. Jack grabbed the limb wincing at how flesh like it felt. Jack cried out in pain as he tugged the sharp bone away from his ear. It sheared away part of his ear lobe. Jack didn't pause to feel the pain. Swinging the broken arm like a baseball bat Jack lashed out at anything that moved in front him. No matter how many he took out more took their place.

Through the writhing limbs Jack saw flickering flashlight. He was getting closer. Jack fell to his knees his chest heaving as he tried to dredge up energy to keep going through the pain. Riley screamed. Panic dumped more adrenaline into his blood.

"Riley! I'm coming!" Jack yelled back, "Die you zombie bastards!" Jack roared as he tossed aside the arm and raised his AR-15. It would deplete his ammo, but he had to get to his kids.

"Keep your heads down!" Jack yelled at the top of his lungs, he squeezed the trigger swinging like the turret of a tank. He had no idea what he was hitting or how many, but the things fell back. With the space to breathe, he grabbed broken arms, legs, necks, spines. Fist by fist he pulled himself over the charnel pile of his best friend murdered a million ways then blown apart by his gunfire. He focused on the brightening light constantly chanting to himself; these Macs weren't real. His brother was alive. Riley was alive. Bozer was alive. They needed him and by God he wasn't going to let any one of them down. Jack's fingernails peeled and cracked as he dug into cold flesh and stained bone moving forward inch by bloody inch.


	15. Chapter 15

A thick fog curled around Mac's brain. He groggily looked around him at a complete loss. Mac winced as he rubbed his eyes. The world didn't come into focus. His right eye was swollen shut and he felt like he'd gotten a crowbar across his skull. He could feel burning lumps swollen along every part of his body-including some very tender places. Mac fought for air. Between the heavy tired ache from the bites, the bruising from the beatings, his meat hook torn chest and the feeling of drowning in his own fluids Mac wanted everything to go away.

Mac jumped at a blood curdling scream. A hand clamped down on his arm. Mac skittered back panic pulsing in his chest.

"Easy, brother, our neighborhood sociopath just set his alarm clark a little high." Jack. Mac let out a breath and fell back to his elbows as everything wobbled. He shook his head and moaned regretting it immediately. Mac blinked but his thoughts seemed to float away like pale smoke. Another scream reverberated through the theater. He could feel the floor rumble and felt like his breath was stolen by the power of the sound wave. He could feel the grumble in his bones after the loud scream faded. Infrasound pumped up to maximum volume. Painful and terror inducing. Mac winced in pain at another scream.

"C'mon, time for us to move." Jack bent down. Mac closed his eyes. His chest swelled ready to explode into a sneeze. Considering the last sneeze knocked him out, Mac pursed his lips and swallowed the urge. Through the fog, Mac realized Jack still hovered. Mac nodded and reached out an arm. He assumed Jack tugged him to his feet, but everything blurred into a white buzz.

"Easy kiddo." Jack's voice penetrated his haze like a reassuring hand pulling him to safety. Mac fought to open his eyes. Everything spun and Mac found himself dangling between Bozer and Riley.

Light and movement exploded across every inch of the theater.. Mac squinted at the images but could only make out a vague sea of movement. Once his ears stopped ringing, Mac heard the familiar chittering and mandibles crunching. His stomach churned and he leaned over to heaven. Nothing came out. Mac closed his eyes lost in the memory of insects crawling, biting, wriggling into his mouth, eyes...Mac realized he screamed and those tormented yells were the agonizing blare assaulting them. Mac narrowed his eyes forcing his lungs to work through the shredded flesh and bone. He looked up at Jack. Jack looked much more panicked than Mac felt. Mac smiled, wincing at the pull on his open cheek. Something said about feeling super sick, he mused absently. His head fell forward and his eyes sank shut. Mac forced them open.

Think MacGyver! He told himself sternly. Even in his head, his voice was little more than a weak slur. Ok, obviously whoever was doing this recorded the whole ant thing. Mac shuddered and fought to hold onto the fading tatters of his thoughts. Filmed meant projection, projection meant...Mac squinted and made out the slight cross directional waves in the light. He followed them to the roof and made out a tiny light high on the ceiling. He glanced at Jack who frowned at him.

Jack looked pale and scared. Mac looked up and pointed. Jack grinned always on the same page as Mac, even when Mac was lost in a blizzard of pain and confusion. Jack said something to Bozer and Riley. Mac tried to follow but the white fuzz was back and his knees turned to Jello.

Everything became a blur. Mac's head bobbed painfully loose on his neck. Bozer's breathing was loud in his ear and Riley offered a continued flood of encouragement that melted together soothing Mac's worry about his partner. Where was Jack? Why did he leave them? The two flashlights bobbing as the trio staggered toward the theater door finished Mac's gut.

Mac bent forward and puked. He moaned as his intestines burned through the broken glass of his chest. Just as he spit the last of his blood tinged bile the sneeze he'd swallow exploded through him. Mac yelled in pain and his knees buckled. His vision became a merry go round of black spots and white static.

Mac didn't realize he was on the floor until Bozer shook him awake. Bozer knelt beside Mac worry in his wide eyes. Mac tried to offer a reassuring smile.

"It's ok, Mac. Keep breathing, please keep breathing." Mac wiped his face with his blood slick arm.

"I'm 'k." He managed. Bozer slumped in relief.

"Um guys…?" Riley's voice wavered with fear. She pointed the flash at the grim audience. Mac and Bozer followed her gaze. By the twin lights of the maglites, all three of them saw the audience shuddering and wriggling like the ants on the wall. Bozer paled a hundred shades.

"Oh. hell. No. Zombies? We have Zombies now? What the-" Bozer's voice broke off when Riley screamed. Mac had a glimpse of dead Mac's grabbing Riley's hair and pull her backward. Mac tried to push to his feet. How did they get surrounded? Riley's maglite fell to the ground and rolled under a seat. Bozer stood up swinging around him with the flashlight panic making the beam bounce like a strobe light. Mac slumped to the floor falling out of his grip.

"Mac!" Bozer yelled. Mac tried to answer back, but two fake Macs grabbed him by the shoulders and dragged him back into a tangle of murdered and mutilated zombies. Mac felt oddly distant. If this had been real he would be a gibbering idiot. Instead Mac smiled at one Mac that had half its face peeled off. Flesh didn't tear that way. Mac frowned when he couldn't move for the press of bodies around him. Pain was becoming disturbingly real. Mac opened his mouth to yell for the others when all the lights went out. Mac blindly struck out. He was buried, dying...Not again! Mac wormed through a gap between the shuffling cold fake-flesh. He found himself climbing a seat. Mac perched on it his fingers digging into the worn cloth as he was pushed side to side as the-whatever the hell they were shuffled past him. Sparks danced across his vision and he could feel a wave of sweat wash him. His arms shook. Then he was in the clear. Mac fell to the sticky theater floor howling in pain. Everything faded for a long minute.

Mac moaned as he jerked awake. He curled on his side, his chest screaming in pain as he tried to take in a breath. Mac shook his head and winced as sweat stung his good eye. Mac blinked realizing it might be blood or something else. Not that it mattered at that point of time. Mac closed his eyes taking a minute to relish breathing.

Ok, now to take down an army of dead hims. Mac told himself resolutely. He filed away his fear for later. The sounds of fighting came from his left. Staying low Mac crawled toward the aisle. He winced as he ran into a seat with his head. He moaned. He heard movement in front of him.

Mac flattened and rolled farther under the seats. The smell of cigarette smoke, grease and long gone rotten popcorn made him gag. Mac bit back a scream as a foot jammed into his side. He reached out and felt rough cloth. Mac worked his hand up the leg frowning. While the maker had focused on making the zombies look as real as possible and shuffle as if their legs were decomposing, Mac could feel solid metal joints through the cloth. These robots, or cyborgs would probably be more accurate although the living tissue wasn't exactly living...Mac shook his head and groaned blinking away the sparklers of pain. Focus. These zombots were made like high grade military hardware. Mac knew, because he'd worked on projects utilizing the same hardware-like Sparky, sort of. Mac reached for his Swiss army knife and let out a deep breath. He'd forgotten about...everything. Mac shoved aside the too recent painful memories and slid to the aisle behind the zombot. Mac couldn't feel anything behind him except empty seats. He walked forward until his fingers brushed the leather jacket of the figure shuffling in front of him. His hands crawled up to the thing's shoulders then neck. Mac winced at the unnatural curve and spike of spine sticking out of the zombot's neck. He was glad he couldn't see the various fantasies of murder someone had made all too real. It was disturbing that someone went through the trouble planning this complicated and sick revenge on him for...something. Mac shoved his questions aside.

He felt the zombot turning to face him. Mac gritted his teeth and climbed onto the monster's back. It fell forward a couple steps before righting itself. Mac wrapped his legs around the cyborg's chest. He clung to the remnants of the broken neck with one arm and dug his fingers into the polymer covering the skull.

Mac grimaced at the acetone and burnt egg smell of the fluid that gushed over his bare arms and chest. The zombot spun trying to buck him off. Whoever designed the thing evidently hadn't thought it would end up in hand to hand combat. It moved slowly, very slowly. Mac could hear the actuators in the robot's joints. It gave him an idea. He reached over and grabbed a long spine of artificial bone. Mac put both hands on it and yanked back. Mac's teeth ground with effort. With a snap it broke. Mac tumbled back first to the floor. Mac screamed in pain as he bounced off the handles and drink holders of the seats then landed on the carpeted cement of the narrow aisle.

Mac couldn't move. He closed his eyes lost in waves of agony. His abdomen sucked in then bounced out like broken bellows. Only stubbornness gave Mac the strength to ignore the flood of pain. He reached out and felt for the shard. Panic took over a long minute before he felt it lodged between seats. Mac let out a small breath then crawled down the aisle. It was definitely blood running down his chest to the floor. He wasn't sure of the wetness dripping from his back or head. Mac leaned back hissing in pain when he crawled face first into a metal shin. Mac fought the urge to shake his head.

Crawling in pace with the zombot, Mac sliced it's pant leg with the sharp plastic and yanked away the cloth. Mac cried out as his finger got pinched in the electric motor. Mac shook his hand knowing he had a deep gash on that finger that would need stitches. By touch he traced the solenoids and motor. Mac smiled when he felt the thick veins running along the robot's leg. Bingo. Mac cut the rubber hose and leaned aside avoiding a full face splash of the foul oily liquid. The robot's electric motors buzzed as it tried to move, but it stood frozen in mid-step. Mac split and pulled himself up to sit in one of the seats. His body craved rest. Mac brushed fluid out of his eyes and continued the climb until he sat on the back of the chair. Gathering what strength he had left he rose and clung to the cyborg's shoulder. He jammed the plastic into the skull surprised to find it shattered with one blow. The smell of fungal decay made him cough. He almost fell to the floor. Mac leaned against the metal statue a long minute.  
His shaking fingers dug into fragile bone peeling a side pieces until a sparkling electric control unit shown bright in the blackness. Mac smiled and absently wiped his dirty hands on the scratchy suit's leg. He blinked his good eye until he could see clearly.

In order to activate all of the zombots at once he knew there had to be an electronic network between them. If he could-Mac dug into the guts pulling out capacitors and motherboards. In seconds there was a spark. Mac let go and curled up as much as he could in the seat. There was a loud pop and the control unit exploded. Whatever was used to power the thing and make its skin was incredibly flammable.

"Shit." Mac whispered his eyes wide in horror as flame passed from robot to robot lighting each one like a torch. Mac dropped to the floor and began to crawl and wriggle through the melting and exploding Mac's. His chest screamed in pain as his body demanded air forcing him to breathe through moist torment. Mac paused to cough up blood and snot. He shouted in pain as burning plastic dripped on his bare back. Mac fell into a coughing fit and slumped to the floor. The sticky cement felt cool under his swollen face. If he could rest...just a second...everything was floating in a cloud…

"MAC?" Mac blinked. Wha-? He gagged choking on smoke, "MAC?" "JACK?"Jack, Bozer and Riley were calling each other, and him. Mac let out a relieved breath. They were ok. He could finally rest. It occurred to him the smoke was probably toxic. He had to warn the others. Mac groaned as he forced himself to his knees. Everything became a constant opera of agony, heat and flames. Mac's muscles screamed as he slid over, under and around a forest of legs and half melted bodies.

Finally he reached the aisle. He was surprised to see a trail of fallen Mac's. Jack. Mac followed the trail. He paused blinking away blackness. He heard a cry of pain and glanced up in time to see his partner flop on his back right in front of him. Mac grinned delighted.

"Jack!" He cried in a broken whisper. Jack turned. His face was covered with blood and slime. His eyes were loaded with pain and anger. Mac opened his mouth to try speaking to his partner again. Jack lashed out and hit Mac solidly in the center of his face. Mac yelled in pain and everything blinked out.


	16. Chapter 16

Jack paused. By the blazing light all around them, he heard the cry of pain and saw the spurt of blood. Jack realized the zombie's round swollen areas were familiar, caused by ants. He'd just punched out the real Mac!

"Shit! Mac? Mac?" Jack leaned back and grimaced as he reached for Mac. He groaned as he rolled Mac onto his back. Mac moaned. Jack breathed out in relief. Hurt but alive. He'd make it up to his partner, it was an honest mistake. Jack coughed and realized a thick blackness was circling the growing wall of fire. Jack grabbed Mac under his armpits and pulled the blonde to his chest. Jack grunted and pushed to his feet. He cried out in pain as his knee and back screamed.

"Hang...on...brother…" Jack gasped around coughs and grunts of pain. Jack had no idea how long he dragged Mac toward the door. How big was this freaking theater? His vision wobbled and he winced in sympathy with every bump he scraped Mac over. Jack tripped on fallen broken Macs behind him. Jack had no idea how far he'd gone. Jack tried to sit up and flopped back; he couldn't get up! He sprawled back, Mac's head against his belly. Jack tried to breathe but the smoke was too thick.

Jack jolted awake as hands grabbed him under his arms and pulled him toward the door. Over the violent roar he heard Riley's muffled voice, but couldn't make out the words.

"Mac." Jack mouthed. He heard Bozer's voice beside him.

"I got him, Jack…" Jack lost the rest of Bozer's words as everything floated away.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Mac felt movement first. He gasped in pain and broke into a long series of half-coughs. He writhed in panic. He couldn't breathe. He reached out blindly and found cloth. He twisted it in his fists and opened his eyes. Fire, all around him fire. Black smoke. He couldn't breathe! Mac tried to scream for help but his chest hurt too much. A hot girdle of agony froze his body in mid- twist.

"Hey, roomie, settle down. We're almost outta here." Mac followed the voice and increased his squirming. The voice was Bozer's, the eyes were Bozer's, but the face was covered by black cloth like a bandit. How did he know it was really Bozer? Mac pushed out of Bozer's grasp.

"Dammit, Mac!" Bozer growled. He managed to keep a grip on Mac and knelt with the blonde's motion buffering most of the fall's impact. Mac tried to crawl away. Bozer held onto Mac with one hand and pulled down the mask with the other. Mac stilled.

"B-"

"Yeah...c'mon we gotta go." Bozer coughed and lifted Mac in his arms again. Mac closed his eyes trying to banish the black shadows bubbling across them. His arms flopped in the air and Bozer's breath was a loud accordion in his ear. Mac fought to breathe and fought the panic. His head fell back. He managed to crack his eyes open and watched the wall of flames eat the ceiling above him. Probably the emergency oxygen system. Mac's thoughts bobbed on a stormy sea. He frowned there was something about that was really not good...Mac's thoughts were just out of his reach.

Mac closed his eyes...he was sooo tired. And hurt. And…

"Mac, buddy. We need your help." Mac groaned. Those were the only words that would pull him from his comfortable cave of darkness.

"That's it, brother, come on. We need a way out." Mac blinked and found himself in the middle of a Phoenix huddle. A damp cool cloth covered his face. It felt so comfortable. His eyes sagged closed. A shake woke him up.

"Mac, please. The fire's taken over the whole mall, there's no way out the doors. We need you." Mac realized Jack was yelling. Under his words bellowed a loud crackling roar surrounding them. Mac's eyes roamed their environment his heart pounded. Fire. They were in the lobby of the movie theater. The roof, walls, carpeting were curling under massive golden flames and black clouds of smoke. Poisonous smoke. Mac tried to sit up. Jack helped him. Mac's head flopped against the delta's shoulder. There was something he...Mac's eyes opened wide. Oxygen! They were sitting under a massive bomb. Adrenaline pushed his brain into gear. He looked over to Riley and Bozer's terrified eyes.

"Bath…" Mac tried to say. He broke off choking. Mac reached out and grabbed the arm of Riley's jacket. She leaned close.

"Bathrooms...tunnel…" Mac closed his eyes and slumped back exhausted. He heard Riley's voice. His head leaned against Jack's chest. He heard his brother struggle to breathe and soft groans of pain. Mac frowned in concern and tried to prise his eyes open, but they were too heavy. Mac drifted in and out.

A jolt of pain woke Mac out of his stupor. It was cooler. Mac managed to open his eyes a little. No flames, no smoke. Mac managed to take in one good breath then broke off coughing. His chest bucked. He could hear the audible gurgle. Pneumonia. Mac moaned as Jack gently laid him on cool tile. Everything buzzed away for a long minute.

A cool cloth dabbing his face woke him. He sniffed and opened his eyes enough to see shadows around him. His heart thudded in fear. No, not again… Mac's eyes snapped open and he tried to push to freedom.

"...brother...easy you're ok." Mac flopped back realizing Jack's familiar hands held his shoulders. He frowned.

"Wh...r we?" He could hear his three teammates let out long sighs of relief.

"You have got to stop scaring us like that." Bozer growled. Mac tried to offer a smile, but it took too much effort. He glanced up feeling Riley brush her fingers through his hair. He realized his head laid on her lap.

"Mac, I need you to listen to me, ok?" Mac shifted his eyes to the wobbly face of his partner. Mac's eyes opened sluggishly. A sharp shake woke him up.

"...me, ok?" Mac blinked at the man.

"Jack…" Riley's voice floated away. Jack shook Mac again. Mac managed to open his eyes completely.

"Ok, we are in the basement of the mall. We need to get out but we need to get past that." Jack leaned out of Mac's line of vision. Mac squinted until he saw a doorway. The fire door had been removed leaving a gleaming steel gate encased in thick plastic. Beyond streams of water made the world outside a grey shaded mirage.

"Polycarbonate?" Jack looked over at the others.

"It's bulletproof if that's what you mean." Mac frowned in thought a long minute then smiled. He looked at Jack.

"Matty outside?" Mac was pleased. His voice was stronger. He had a problem to focus on distracting him from the general blurriness of his world-and pain.

"Yeah, we called her. She's on her way around." Riley offered.

"Need holes...tow chain…" Mac felt as if he melted into the tile. He heard Jack's excited voice and felt movement around him. Then…

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Jack leaned against the cement wall. The temperature was rising. The fire was getting closer. With only the rain fighting the flames, Jack knew it wouldn't be long before the roof came down. He closed his eyes. He was exhausted and hurt. Jack's heart lurched when he heard an ear splitting boom. He jerked to his feet.

"Jack! The tunnel!" Riley screamed. Jack crouched over Mac's unconscious body. Riley and Bozer curled in beside him. The floor and walls shook. The four teammates were knocked flat as the tunnel crumbled behind them. Jack coughed and leaned over Mac. Still breathing.

"Are they through yet?" Jack coughed.

"Almost, they're on their third drill bit." Jack coughed glancing over his shoulder. The quartet had huddled as close to the door as possible. Jack couldn't see past the billowing cloud of dust and debris. It didn't take a genius to figure out their time was up.

"Screw this." Jack dug in the dirt beside him and pulled out his AR-15. He had half a clip left. He hoped it would be enough, "Stay down, no matter what."

"Jack, you can't-" Jack shut out Riley's voice. He hit the thick plastic with the butt of the AR. The man holding a drill to the plastic looked up startled. It had taken most of the day and five burnt out drills to cut the first hole. This one had barely gone through a layer or two of the plexiglass.

Jack pointed at his rifle then the door. The man's mouth gaped open. He dropped the drill and nodded backing to the line of trucks behind him. Jack waited until all of the blurred figures he could see grabbed cover. Jack braced the barrell directly against the polycarbonate and squeezed the trigger. The compression of the fire blast blew the AR-15 into his shoulder hard enough to knock him back four or five feet on his ass. Jack arched his back in pain. His right arm hung limp on the floor. Jack had to force air into his lungs.

"Jack?" Riley asked. She slid from Mac's side and leaned over Jack. Jack blinked at her but was too stunned to answer.

"Yes! Great job!" Bozer yelled from the other end of a grey tunnel. Jack shook his head and twisted to his left. He tried to push off the tile, but his arm shook too much. Riley ducked under his good side and helped him wobble to his feet. Jack hissed as feeling came back in his right arm. He was able to move his fingers so it couldn't be so bad, right?

"C'mon, we have to get back." Riley said easing Jack to Mac's side. Jack heard the rattle of a heavy chain as Bozer wrapped it through the two holes around two bars of iron. He handed it back outside and dashed to join the others. They all ducked. Over the growing rumble of the building collapse around them they heard the roar of a heavy diesel motor. The engine reached deafening levels. Jack gagged on the heavy stink of blue-gray exhaust. There was a throaty growl, the smell of rubber burning then the cage flew out the cement and steel door. The cement spider webbed with cracks and swayed dust and lumbar falling.

"Move!" Jack yelled. Riley helped drag him to his feet. Bozer bent and scooped up Mac needing to lean against the wall to gather himself. The four staggered out into the thick dust and rain. Jack coughed forcing his legs to move. The earth rumbled under his feet. He and Riley fell to the tar. Jack tried not to land on Ri, but she cried out in pain as they landed. Jack closed his eye not liking the pirouette the world was suddenly doing.

He heard boots and yells of TAC agents. Jack groaned as he was lifted and carried away at a run. Jack closed his eyes losing everything to waves of pain for a long stretch. The thwack thwack of helicopter blades and a tornado of wind and rain lashing him roused him. He was on a skid sliding into the belly of a medic helicopter. The familiar faces of Phoenix's helicopter medics, Gillian and Frank, worked over him. Jack winced when they stabbed him with a long needle. He felt the warm rush of pain killer.

"Mac?" Jack slurred. Gillian smiled as she draped a mask over his face. She nodded to his right. Jack turned and let out a long relaxing breath. Two other medics, Chuck and Beasley, worked on Mac. Jack's eyes opened in slow motion and all of his aches melted as the medicine kicked in. Jack took in a deep breath of oxygen feeling like it was the first full breath he'd taken in a month. He was dimly aware of Gillian cutting his clothes off. He wanted to make a lewd joke, but it flitted away before he could remember it. Just as well, he thought, he didn't want another story to live down. Jack gave in and relaxed into sleep.


	17. Chapter 17

The day was perfect. Jack inhaled the salty, fresh air and tilted his head into the cool wind. The ocean sighed in contentment small waves lapping at the fishing boat. Jack sat back sipping his beer beside the fishing rod mounted on the boat gunwale in front of him sun running along the silver like a magnesium flare. After all of the storms in the past week, the warm Caribbean weather helped ease the pain in his bones and muscles.

"Anything yet?" Jack swivelled his chair and looked on the upper deck to see Riley in her bikini shading her eyes as she looked down at him. Behind her Matty and Bozer chatted, drinking mai tais as they sprawled on deck chairs.

"No...hey where's Mac?"

"Think he's down below." Jack smiled. Poor kid, needed rest in the worst way. Riley waved.

"Look!" Jack followed her point and grinned. Shark fin. He scrambled to the chum bucket and threw bait into the water beside the boat. A lazy fin slowly swayed toward the yacht.

"Shark steaks tonight!" Jack yelled. He fed out line and waited. The shark dropped below the ocean but the water was so clear he could see the shadow circling below them. Jack watched holding his breath so he didn't scare the giant fish away from his line. The boat jolted forward.

"Yeah!" Bozer whooped behind him. Jack grinned as he tugged the rod back. The thick fishing line twanged like a guitar string.

"This big boy is fighting like hells on his tail!" Jack growled. Sweat beaded and dripped down his bare chest and arms. His sandals slid in the splashing waves thrown up by the shark's epic struggle. Jack grinned. His shoulder, back and knee screamed at him. He ignored it lost in the excitement of the hunt.

"Don't lose him!" Matty yelled. Jack rolled his eyes.

"Trust me, we are having shark steaks tonight!" He yelled. The rod started to thrash less.

"You're winning!"

"He's getting tired."

"Don't just stand there, Dalton! Wheel his ass in!" Jack ignored the three's support and suggestions. The ocean turned reddish color and began to bubble splashing salty water into his face.

"Oh yeah, we'll see about that, bubba." Jack growled, "Mac? Hey, Mac, get out here! Mac...it's coming up!" His three teammates behind him broke out into cheers and encouragement. The top of the fishing rod bent almost to the water. Jack gritted his teeth and fought the big bastard. He could smell cooking shark meat with butter. His mouth watered. He sputtered away another face full of salt water.

Then the tension left the rod and Jack had him. Jack did a happy dance as he cranked the fish above water. The red water spill grew as he brought his catch to the surface. Jack turned to wave triumphantly at his three spectators.

"Mac! C'mon bud, you have to see this fish!" Jack turned and froze. Instead of a shark, Mac hung limp a metal hook jutting through the center of his chest.

"Great catch!" Riley called. Bozer and Matty praised him. Jack pulled Mac's body to the deck.

"No! It's Mac. It's Mac. No, no, no…" Jack cut the thick line and Mac flopped limp to the deck. His eyes were clouded pools of silver flesh. His skin blue…

"MAC!" Jack screamed. He bolted upright sucking in air. Jack closed his eyes. It was a dream. Only a dream. A nightmare. After Jack's breathing approximated normal, he rubbed his face. He was soaked with sweat. Jack didn't think he'd ever had a nightmare that real. It took another few minutes for the shaking to go away. He felt nauseous. Finally he opened his eyes and took a deep breath.

Jack looked around the room he found himself with a frown. He wasn't in Phoenix medical. Jack winced as he shifted to the side of the bed. He was in a T shirt and boxers. Jack raised an eyebrow. He never wore boxers.

The room could have been in someone's home. In a kid's room. The bed was twin sized and had Star Wars bedding. Jack chuckled. He hadn't seen those since he was a kid and his dad had taken the whole family to the drive in to watch it. Jack smiled at the memory. The entire neighborhood had gone. He remembered running among the various cars, then down to the playground, and the special smell of the concession stand...Jack shook himself to the present. The walls were an electric blue. Posters of muscle cars and shows he liked lined every wall. Jack frowned a sense of unease gathering around him as he studied the row of shelves and things piled on it. KITT from _Knight Rider_ , the General Lee from _Dukes of Hazzard_ , a poster of _Chips_ and his beloved Daisy Duke. All things he loved in his childhood. He stood in the center of the room slowly spinning. No windows. What the hell was going on? Jack opened the bureau surprised to find drawers of black Ts and jeans. They fit him perfectly. By the stiffness he knew they were newly store bought. Jack searched the room but couldn't find his own clothes, his Baretta, his phone, or worse, shoes of any kind.

Jack half expected the door to be locked, but it opened to a normal house. He padded down a short hallway. The floors were cold wood. Pictures lined both sides of the hall, Jack stopped to look and felt the hairs on his arms and neck stand on end. They were surveillance photos of the entire team. They had him and Mac eating at Burger Palace. Riley coming out of her apartment. Matty walking out of Phoenix. Bozer window shopping for a new 50 inch TV he was determined to buy. Jack's gut churned. The walls seem to squeeze his air away. He may have escaped the mall from hell, but not the flytrap of the insane Wells family. Moving faster he opened the doors on either side of the hall. A washer/ dryer combo, towels, soaps, bathroom-a weird mauve with gold fixtures. Jack winced and stepped away. He paused at an empty bedroom. It was filled with tools and electronic gear. A high stack of quilts and blankets sprawled everywhere. A work bench with a vise piled high with glass containers and stuff he vaguely remembered from high school chemistry lab. On every other wall books, lots and lots of books. Jack knew by how fat they were they had to be science texts. Obviously Mac's room. Jack took a second to pause. If they nailed his childhood so well, was that Mac's? Jack shook his head and returned his focus to his current mission. The hall ended in a kitchen.

It was surprisingly homey. A red checked table cloth covered a small table laid out in a windowed breakfast nook. The refrigerator and appliances looked like they came fresh from _Leave it to Beaver_. Jack frowned. The tiles, the wood cabinets...they were from _Leave it to Beaver_. According to the vague memories he had of the show, it was a perfect replica. Jack strode across the small room to the only other doorway. His shoulders slumped in relief.

The room was a sunny, well lit den. Bright sun poured in a set of triple skylights. Two wooden fans hung between them. The ceiling was flat. Mac slept soundly on a long couch piled under piles of hand made quilts. There was another couch, a tiny TV in an ornate lime green console with gold filigree. Jack wrinkled his nose. Another momento from the '50s. Knick knacks lined glass fronted cabinets. Jack thought they were those stupid figurines with wide guppy eyes and the swiss kids his mom used to like. Jack shoved aside a pile of magazines. He caught a glimpse of science and muscle car magazines. He sat on the plastic coffee table, relieved. It creaked but held his weight. He leaned over Mac.

The ant bites had faded to light pink patches and lumps. The bruises and scrapes stood out like dark fingerprints against Mac's pale skin. Mac's hair curled with sweat. Mac slept restlessly softly moaning as his head thrashed back and forth. Jack pulled back the blankets and raised an eyebrow. Mac was sporting a red striped onesie and cradled the ugliest teddy bear Jack had ever seen. It was faded almost to threadbare had lopsided eyes and a missing ear. It had been stitched countless times. One foot had been resewn backwards. Jack put a hand on Man's chest. He could feel the crumbly cereal feeling as fluid moved in his lungs. Jack put the back of his hand against Mac's forehead. The kid was pumping out heat. Mac's breath caught, Jack leaned back.

"NO!" The blonde screamed as he bolted upright chest heaving.  
"Hey, brother. It's ok." Jack said softly. Mac looked at him with the same wide panicky eyes he'd had when they pulled him out of the coffin. Mac leaned forward trying to suck in air. Jack rubbed his back. Mac was shaking and his muscles were coiled tight. Jack dug his fingers into Mac's shoulder.

"Mac, you with me?" Mac closed his eyes. Jack was pretty sure it wasn't all sweat beading down Mac's cheeks. Mac laid back forcing himself to take deep breaths even though it obviously caused pain. After a year, Mac opened his eyes. Terror still lingered in their shadowy depths. Mac managed a smile.

"I hate...nightmares." The kid's voice creaked breathlessly. Jack nodded.

"Me too." Mac blinked confused as he took in the room. He picked up on Jack's unease.

"Jack, where are we?" Jack shot Mac a glare that communicated deeper than words could. Mac pushed up on elbows. Jack helped him sit. Mac sucked in air exhausted by even that small amount of movement. He raised an eyebrow.

"This is exactly like my Grandfather's house except the...whatever the hell they are?" Mac nodded toward the glass fronts.

"Figurines. My grandmother had ones like that. The whole house I've seen so far it's like that. Nostalgia central. I even got _Star Wars_ bedding." Mac chuckled. Jack shrugged, "Ok, those are cool. The rest of it…"

"Creepy." Mac agreed. He shoved aside the quilts and froze. He looked at Jack with part horror part confusion, "What. the. Hell." Mac lifted the teddy bear his eyes widened. Jack couldn't help but notice the gentle way Mac cradled the thing.

"Ctesibius? How?"

"Let me guess, childhood friend?"

"Yeah, I still have him in a trunk at...my grandfather's cabin." Mac looked up at Jack a new horror filled his face.

"Where are the others?"

"I was just going to scout the rest of the house. You ok here?" Mac nodded leaning back taking deep breaths. Jack smiled as his partner began to pull at Clet...Sct...whatever the hell he called the teddy. Jack crossed the room to the a doorway beside a long empty key rack. It opened in a solarium lined with bushy green plants around a set of wicker deck furniture. Jack's breath hitched when he looked out the window.

They were circled by mountains. Sun glinted off high dunes of snow sloping down the mountains. The grand stone looked close, but Jack knew from experience that it was an optical illusion. The house or whatever they were in sat on a small dell with autumn yellow grass and leaves from sparse cottonwoods. As he watched a large white hare nibbled on glass. It froze, eyed him then scurried under a small copse of pines. It was beautiful, Jack had to admit. If he had to guess they were somewhere in the middle of the Rockies.

Jack tapped on the glass and scowled. Thick, exactly like the mall without the iron bars. Jack's gut sunk. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a steel half door behind a potted banana tree. Jack moved it surprised. He felt a leaf. Fake. Like this house. The door had a ring in its corner. He winced as he heaved on it. The hatch gave an ear splitting shriek and then opened with a crack. Jack fell back on his ass. He sprawled flat for a long minute waiting until the agony in his knee and back settled down. Groaning he wobbled to his feet. He shook his leg wincing. His knee was less swollen than he expected but still hurt like a bitch.

When he could walk on it without screaming, Jack crouched and stepped through the door and immediately wished he hadn't. A small staircase led down to a crawl space. Hanging in the crawlspace were chopped human bodies coated with blood that dripped onto a stone floor. Jack braced himself. He had to know. He reached out a finger and touched a torso with bloody tears where the head and limbs should be. He poked it and jumped back shaking.

"Gross." Jack winced. He looked at his finger and raised it to his nose. Jack let out a deep breath. He didn't know what it was, but it wasn't blood. He poked the torso and felt the same in-flesh like skin that the zombo-Mac's had.

Jack retraced his path and closed the door. He glanced at the banana tree and opted instead for a giant tub of ferns. Jack rubbed his back as he explored the rest of the house. Mac's head leaned back over the top of the couch. Jack covered the snoring man with quilts.

He froze at the sound of the Smurf song. He turned; his nose wrinkled in disgust. In tiny black and white static, the obnoxious cartoon played. Jack found the remote on Mac's lap. Curious he clicked through the channels. They only had three and they all showed the same shows.

"Now that's mean." He growled. Worse, when he tried to turn off the TV it wouldn't go off. If he didn't already know these people were sick sons of bitches, he'd believe it now. Jack crossed to the TV and yanked it's cord. It didn't go off, "So it's going to be torture after all." Jack's eyes narrowed and he glanced at Mac. The kid slept solidly around occasional coughs and snorts. Jack moved to scout the rest of the house.

The fridge was stocked with all of his favorite foods he'd liked as a kid-and if he was being honest, still ate. Jack took a sip of water. It was clean and fresh. Jack checked the cupboards and grinned when he saw a bag of mini Charleston chews and Marathon bars. Score! Carrying it with him he checked the others. Plates. Dishwashing supplies. Floor cleaner. No bleach or other chemicals. Jack frowned. Someone knew Mac well.

He walked down the hall. The medicine cabinet in the bathroom was full of medicine bottles. Jack scowled. They were from the pharmacy near Mac's house and had been ordered by Doc Carl. Opening them Jack could see the seals unbroken. Whoever put them in this house of creepy didn't want them dead-yet. Jack wondered for the billionth time how they had ended up here.

The last thing he remembered was being loaded into the Phoenix helicopter. His heart thudded. What about the others? Were they captured somewhere? Jack swallowed down his worry. He had enough to worry about getting him and Mac out of here.

In the hall, Jack looked up. The house did have an attic. Jack reached up and pulled the string that lowered a ladder. Jack's heart pounded and his right hand twitched missing the comfortable grip of his Baretta. He peeked over the edge and almost fell.

"Holy shit." Jack hissed. Eyes stared at him. Hundreds, possibly thousands of eyes. Dolls. Rows and rows of old porcelain dolls glared at him. Jeweled eyes. Yellowed arms and torn antique dresses. Blank faces some cracked some missing eyes. Jack gulped and turned. It was the same all around him. Feeling sick Jack slid down the ladder and shoved the door shut. His heart pounded. He made a note to himself to find a way to nail the door shut. He'd had enough zombies for a hundred lifetimes. No way in hell was he going to be snuck up on by creepy Victorian Chuckettes.

The rest of the house proved to be normal-ish. Mac's clothes hung as perfect as they did at his house. Buried under piles of papers covered with Mac's micro scrawl, Jack found a bureau. He pulled out a set of sweats, T and hoodie. There were no socks or shoes. Searching in detail, Jack found no phone or weapon. All the windows were thick polycarbonate and there were no doors to the outside. They were trapped.


	18. Chapter 18

Mac thrashed, fighting as hard as he could. The hands tore into flesh. Tighter and tighter like a snake choking his life away. Water sloshed down his throat. Dirty water burned his lungs. Mac screamed. No sound. He had no airt.  
 _Jack! Jack!_ No one heard him. No one came. No one would come. Jack broke his promise. Mac died gasped unable to fight anymore. Floating…

"Dammit! MAC! Breathe!" A blurry figure pinned him. Mac pushed in a guppy breath. Nails of torment ripped through his chest. Hung like meat. Pushed under water. Pain! Always pain. A vise grabbed his head. Squeezed. Sharp daggers tore through his skull. Bone fragments flew. Blood spattered He couldn't escape. Mac died alone.

 _JACK!_ _Don't leave me. Don't leave me._ The giant hand tightened. His back broke. Ribs snapped. Claws dug through muscles. Sinews snapped. He couldn't twitch a muscle. Darkness. COFFIN. _NO, NO, NO. JACK! YOU PROMISED..._ Empty echoes. Mac died alone.  
"Mac, I'm right here. I'm not leaving. I'm right here. C'mon brother. C'mon…" Mac slurped a quick breath. A gentle touch smoothed his back. Mac frowned. _Jack?_ _Make the pain stop. Please, Jack._

"Shh...you're ok, Mac. We're ok…" Mac cried out curling forward. Finally a deep breath. His heart skipped. He could feel it like a pumping wound in his chest. Mac clutched cloth. Mac shook, panic blazing through him.

"Hey, hey...easy...in, out, in, out...that's it. See, you can breathe…" Familiar, safe, soothing. Mac knew that voice. He cracked his eyes forcing in another deeper breath. He arched back... pain... stabbed through his chest. Burning, blood...  
"I know it hurts, kiddo. C'mon slow down...that's it…" Mac slumped limp. He shivered. Moisture poured down his skin. Mac's body tightened and his eyes snapped open. He tried to bolt upright but pain slapped him back. Everything faded for a long minute.

"...back. C'mon, brother." Weak, exhausted, Mac opened his eyes and frowned. Clarity seeped into the blur around him. Mac relaxed. Sunshine. Heat. A couch. Mac's eyes widened and fear struck through him like a tidal wave. Where the hell was he? _No more, no more, please, no more._

"JACK!" He screamed again trying to sit up. Familiar arms helped him upright. Mac's head dropped. A confusing kaleidoscope accompanied the movement. He leaned forward heaving. Nothing came out. His body shook harder. Mac had no control of his muscles as they coiled then stretched. Mac curled forward sobbing. He had no idea why.

"Jack." He felt a hole where his heart was. Jack was gone. No one was coming. He was dying...blackness… Mac slumped spent. Mac died alone.

After a long time of grey silence, the throb of a heartbeat thudded through his head. Mac closed his eyes and pushed closer. It was familiar, warm, solid, safe. Instinct took over. He reached out and pulled deeper into the safety. Tears ran down his face as he shook. A familiar voice vibrated all around him.

"Easy, brother, I got ya." Mac's breathing became painful stilted hiccups. He felt himself rocking and a familiar callused hand rub his back.

"J-?" Mac's chattering teeth couldn't form words. He was so damn cold.

"Yeah, buddy. I'm here. It was just a nighmare, kiddo." Mac sucked in a shaky breath and slowly eased the tightness of his squeeze. Jack backed away and leaned down to look into Mac's face. Mac nodded and wiped his face with his sleeve. He frowned. Striped…? What the…? Warm hands gently framed his face and lifted. Mac blinked away the last fuzziness until he met the gaze of his worried partner.

"You with me, partner?" Mac swallowed and nodded. Jack backed away more. Mac leaned back. Jack pulled a blanket tight around him. Mac offered a watery smile. Jack wiped his face with his hand, "That was scary." Mac nodded, not sure he was capable of speech yet.

"You...you...did... didn't...c...c... come." Mac stuttered. Jack frowned.

"In your nightmare?" Mac nodded. He looked away, "C...c...ouln't...b...b...breathe...w...w...water…p...p...hurt...s...sta...stabbed..." Mac broke off out of breath. He closed his eyes pulling the blanket tighter. Jack put a hand on Mac's knee.

"It was just a nightmare." Jack said. Mac looked up at the tightness of his friend. He took in the room and sucked in a deep breath as it came back to him. They were trapped...coffin...ants...Mac winced when Jack shook him by the shoulders. Mac blinked and nodded. He had to get a grip. He swallowed and looked up at Jack.

"I'm...ok, now. Thanks." Mac said glad his voice was shaky but stronger. Jack let out a pent up breath.

"Good. I was worried a minute there." Mac nodded. He rubbed his eyes. His hand still shook. He ducked it under the blanket knowing he hadn't been quick enough to hide it-as if he'd ever been able to hide anything from Jack.

"What... time is it?"

"No idea." Mac frowned at him. Jack showed Mac his empty wrist.

"No watches or clocks. Sundown outside though." Mac followed Jack's pointing to the bay window. A fiery bird flew free from the mountains filling the sky. Mac frowned. There was something wrong about that. He rubbed his forehead. His stomach grumbled.  
"Good idea." Jack said as if he spoke gut-enese. Mac's mouth quirked into a smile. Jack laughed and patted Mac's shoulder.

"How about Twinkies and PBJs?" Mac raised an eyebrow. Jack shrugged, "Whoever locked us up in here only put kids food in the cupboards." Mac frowned, the onesie he wore starting to make sense. Mac laughed when he saw half a bag of Charleston chews and marathon bars. Both had been discontinued long before he was born. On stakeouts, Jack often rhapsodize about the treats of his childhood as if they were nectar of the gods.

"Are you still hungry?" Jack frowned.

"Of course I'm hungry! I'll go make supper." Mac nodded. He noticed a set of sweats on the coffee table. He frowned. No socks. His feet were already freezing. He glanced over. Jack was barefoot. Mac looked down at his onesie and smiled. He'd have to find a pair of scissors.  
Jack turned at Mac's gasp. Mac had wobbled to his feet. His face had bleached pale beyond pale. His head dropped and he swayed.

"Shit." Jack muttered. He managed to steady Mac before the kid fell into the plastic table. Mac grabbed Jack's arm and forced his eyes open.

"Sorry, gonna go take shower." Mac whispered. Jack frowned at the hoarseness. He put a hand on Mac's head. Definitely a fever.

"Ok, kiddo, let me help." Mac nodded and trudged to the shower Jack holding onto his elbow. Jack wasn't surprised to see a shower chair. His jaw clenched. Their psycho kidnappers wanted them to rest up and heal so they'd live longer going through whatever sick shit they came up with. Jack really hated these dudes. Thinking of the triplets, or dudettes. He was going to fucking kill every single one of them.

Jack set Mac up then pulled the curtain. He winced in sympathy as Mac let loose harsh wet coughs. Jack paused and retrieved medicines from the cabinet on his way to the kitchen. Jack decided Mac needed something with more nutritional kick. He opted for Mac and Cheese with sliced hot dogs mixed in. Jack made the hot dog bites small so Mac could swallow them. That's all he needed. Save Mac from literal hell then have him die choking on a hot dog. Jack was stirring the thick cheesy meal when he heard the shower quiet. Jack covered the meal and wiped his hands on a towel as he crossed to the shower. Jack could hear the rasp of Mac's breathing from the door. Mac sat slumped into a flattened question mark. Jack could see his ribs saw up and down as he gasped for air.  
"Ready, brother?" Mac looked up at him and gave Jack a weak smile.  
"Th...thanks…" Mac broke off in a long coughing fit. Jack put a steadying hand on Mac's shoulder.

"No problemo. C'mon let's get you dressed. I got some mac and weenies cooked." Mac raised an eyebrow, "You need something more solid than a PBJ." Mac sighed. Jack could see Mac brace to face food. Jack wondered when Mac's last meal was. Jack wondered when his last meal was. Neither was a good thing. Jack steadied Mac as the kid climbed into sweats. He stood by Mac's side as the kid shambled to the couch. Mac flopped down and leaned his head back catching his breath.

Jack retrieved blankets and pillows from Mac's room. He paused. Out of the corner of his eye he saw old time TV tables leaning in Mac's closet. He pulled one out and grinned. _ET_. He brushed aside some of the others. _Gremlins, Goonies, and Ghostbusters._

"Classic." He murmured. He pulled out _ET and Goonies_ wanting to avoid anything that might be misconstrued by Mac's overactive sleeping brain. Mac was dozing by the time Jack joined him. He roused when Jack pulled the coffee table away. Mac marvelled at the TV dinners.

"These are brand new."

"I know. They'd be worth a butt load of money." Jack said as he filled a paper plate with food and gathered plasticware. Mac frowned at it. Jack shrugged.

"All we have."

"Not surprised." Mac said. His mouth watered at the sight of the macaroni. Jack got his own plate and balanced two glasses of kool aid as he returned. Mac sniffed the kool aid and brightened.

"Cherry."

"Yeah, somehow these assholes know our favorites dating back to their childhood." Both ate in silence for a long minute. It had to be surveillance. Mac glanced around the room. He glanced at Jack who nodded. His partner had reached the same conclusion. How long?

"The question is how long." Jack echoed his thoughts. Mac nodded and pushed the noodles away his stomach complaining. For once, Jack didn't push Mac to eat more.

"Assuming this is the Kells clan out for revenge, "Mac said around a long sip of Koolaid, "for the death of Weldon or whoever died at least seven years." Jack nodded scraping his paper plate clean. Mac frowned.

"The question is why?"

"They're making a movie. Obviously their into some sick shit." Jack said with a shrug. Mac leaned forward pushing the table away with a wrinkled nose.

" What if there was more to that?"

"What do you mean?" Mac waved his hands as if bringing his vague ideas from his brain.

"Everything has been theatrical-"

"Kells made a fortune with horror movies."  
"Exactly, a fortune."

"You think they're making these...to sell?"

"Think about it. He was a pioneer of blood and guts movies when the first straight to DVD market opened."

"He got around the ratings system. Otto, when he was playing museum curator, said that after the military service Kells went really psycho."

"Otto was talking about himself. He took over the Kells' title."  
"Right, but he'd been trained by psych-ops." Mac rubbed his forehead pushing aside recent horror movies, "You ok, Mac?"

"Yeah." His weak murmur did little to reassure Jack. Mac took a deep breath and broke out in a string of hoarse coughs. He leaned back catching his breath. He frowned.

"Matty said he left the military not long after I was transferred to Peña's unit. What if he was like a junkie and needed more?" Jack nodded.

"That makes sense. He could still make a buttload of money on the dark web selling these things." Mac pulled the quilt tighter around him. The idea of someone like Murdoc watching his torture while munching on popcorn...Mac shuddered.

"Mac?" Mac met Jack's eyes seeing his partner was thinking the same thing.

"He would have made more money if the audience knew who we are." Mac murmured rubbing his eyes. His heart throbbed and he could feel fear nibbling at the edges of his consciousness. Jack moved over and sat next to Mac. Mac didn't notice he leaned closer to his partner.

"So he thought you cut off his fix so he fixated on you." Mac shot Jack a glare. Jack grinned. Jack chuckled glad to be plucked from his morbid thoughts.

"Yeah, something like that. But why the rest of the unit?"

"What if he pushed them to suicide and filmed it. You know marketing research or whatever." Mac nodded.

"That makes sense. It would also silence anyone who knew what Apple-pear was."

"It had to be some psych thing. How else could he make them all kill themselves. I hate brain-fucks." Mac agreed. It was hard enough to maintain sanity as an EOD, let alone being some son of a bitch's lab rat at the same time. Mac's jaw clenched and he winced remembering the swollen bites and footprints on his chin.

"So we know at least Otto and one of the triplets in alive, well, and making this sicko film."

"Yeah." Mac fought a yawn his eyes sagging. Jack huffed.

"Ok, here's what we're going to do. You get some sleep, I'll see if I can't snip cameras and mics." Mac frowned. He leaned over and whispered into Jack's ear.

"No, help me to my room. I'll make something to track electronics." Jack nodded.

"I'm going go with you, see if there isn't something we can use in all that junk as weapons." Mac smiled.

"You don't want to let me out of your sight." Jack raised an eyebrow.

"Problem?" Mac shuddered and shook his head. Jack patted his knee, "Let's get to it then. If I know my horror movies, and I do, things won't stay quiet for long."


	19. Chapter 19

Jack sighed as he waited for the orderly to open the door. Mac had changed the five years since the Kells' haunted house. He'd become unstable, paranoid, dangerous. Jack winced at the loud clang of the lock. Even though the mental hospital was state of the art, Jack couldn't help but feel it was a rusty asylum or jail. One time in his life he would have been freaked out about ghosts or monsters. Now he knew only ghosts of people's former selves haunted these halls.

Mac crouched in the corner of his bedroom mumbling to himself as he scribbled on paper covered with strings of pencil writted illegibly from corner to corner, edge to edge. Papers sprawled around him by the hundreds. His pencil had been worn down to a stub the length of a pinkie.

Jack crouched in front of his partner and forced his voice to be light. Jack was the only one Mac could tolerate seeing, most of the time. There were many times Jack was turned away because Mac had to be restrained and medicated for panic, delusions, hallucinations or aggression. It was heartbreaking.

"Hey, Mac." He started his voice soft and gentle. Mac backed away and looked up afraid. His blue eyes were blue marbles glinting in the sun. Mac's long hair flopped in all directions. Jack could see snarled bunched at the kid's scalp and sighed. He'd have to try to get Mac in the shower.

"Hey, kiddo, it's Jack." Mac pushed hair out of his face and crawled a step closer studying Jack's face intently. Jack pushed a smile on his face. Mac reached out and poked Jack's cheek. He sat back on his haunches and let out a long breath.

"It is you!" Mac's eyes filled with tears, "I had to make sure, they make people." Jack remembered the zombomacs and nodded. It was one of the wilder things he ranted about that was absolutely true.

Jack slid the papers aside and sat with his back against the wall. He took in the room. Plain white padded walls and a bed bolted to the cement floor. That's it, nothing else. Jack picked up one of his pages of scribbling. Mac had started in a normal room, but managed to escape. They had by stages removed things until he couldn't, or stopped trying.

Jack frowned turning the paper. Around the usual mathematical babbling Mac had started to write sentences. This was new. Jack studied Mac's scrawl.

 _It's the wrong shape. Sunlight isn't like that. What's up with the rabbit? The wind is all wrong. Why the scary attic? What's in the basement? It's not…_

"What's all this, bud?" Mac sat beside. Jack reached out and wrapped his partner in a side hug. Mac curled in close and relaxed. Jack sighed. Doctor Mendez said this was the only time Mac relaxed.

"Shh...they're watching…" Mac put a finger on Jack's lips and scanned the room. Jack automatically scanned for danger too. Old habits. Even though this was a Phoenix facility and as safe as Jack could make it, Jack was always unnerved by the feeling of being watched.

"It's ok, buddy. No one's gonna hurt you, I promise." Mac studied him with a hungry look. Jack turned away. Those eyes. Once they had sparked with mischief and optimism. Now they were endless pools of terror and desperation. Jack waited. Sometimes Mac would back away screaming Jack abandoned him. Today was a good day. Mac leaned his head on Jack's chest.

"I know." Jack held up the paper. He could feel Mac's body tighten with tension. Mac leaned close and whispered, "Here isn't here. This isn't real." Jack nodded and rubbed the kid's back. He tried to look serious. Mac eyeballed him and nodded satisfied. He desperately needed to know Jack believed him. Mac smiled and leaned back sitting beside Jack. Jack let out a breath of relief. He hated when Mac's mind was lost in past traumas.

"How is everybody?" Mac asked conversationally as he picked at a too-long toenail. Jack grimaced this was the question he hated the most. He forced a smile hoping Mac wouldn't see how flat it was.

"You know, the usual. Riley got to beat up some clowns this week?" That at least wasn't a lie. Mac giggled. Jack grinned, authentically for once. Mac hated clowns, "Yeah there was this underground fighting thing in Colorado." Jack didn't add on that Riley had gone as a member of Colton and Son's. She had left Phoenix after Jack had put Mac in this place. They didn't talk anymore; Jack only heard about Riley's life through Matty. Matty was now Oversight and Jack had taken her place as director. Jack hoped Mac didn't ask about Bozer. Bozer was dead.

Mac didn't answer. He stared at the wall.

"Did you see that?" He whispered. Jack leaned his head back. The padding was surprisingly hard. Not this again.

"No, kiddo, I didn't. There isn't-" Jack tiredly opened his eyes and jumped. Out of a tiny hole between padding a spider crept out. Jack's heart thudded. Legs filled the hole as soon as the spider skidded away, then a second spider crawled. Mac screamed and tried to climb into Jack's side. Jack winced at Mac's untrimmed nails digging into his arm.

"It's ok, brother. It's just two-" Jack broke off as the single spider exiting became a trickle, then a flood. Jack jumped up and pushed Mac behind him. Dozens of spiders crept along the plain white walls.

"Hello?" Jack yelled. His heart beat faster. The seconds felt like years. The wall spit out more and more spiders. They were growing in size. Brown, furry, with front two legs raised ready to attack-they attacked each other as they crawled over each other to get to the two men. "HELLO?" Jack screamed. He knew what spiders these were, arguably the most dangerous spiders in the world-the Huntsman.

Jack swore he could hear their feet tap across the floor. Spiders as big as crabs were now pushing from the wall. Jack stomped the ones closing in on them. Mac howled in pain. Jack whirled. The arachnids had crossed the ceiling and were pouring down over Mac. Mac screamed and reached out to Jack. He was unable to talk his mouth overflowing with wriggling legs. Jack watched the life leave Mac's eyes as he fell to the floor completely buried…

Jack screamed and bolted upright. His chest heaved as he brushed his wet face. He was drenched in sweat. Jack desperately scanned his environment. His heart sprinted when he realized his hand was empty of the familiar Beretta. Jack blinked sweat away and slowly caught his breath.

Everything came back as he realized he slept in a bed made with _Star Wars_ bedding. Jack frowned. Not everything came back. Jack threw aside the covers and ran for Mac's room. The last thing he remembered was helping Mac to his room to build a camera or microphone detector.

Jack skidded to a halt by Mac's bed. Fury burned through his veins. Mac laid in bed on his side. A small dressing was taped to the back of his neck. An IV hung above his bed, the bag empty. The room was white and only held Mac's bed-exactly like Jack's nightmare. Psych-ops. Jack gritted his teeth. He was going to fucking kill them hard. He bent over Mac and put a hand on Mac's bare chest. Jack ducked his head in relief. Mac was breathing. He was cold, clammy and shivering but alive. Jack shook him.

"Mac? Hey, brother, time to wake up." Mac mumbled something and tried to push Jack's arm away. Jack smiled. That was typical Mac. Jack dodged the hands and shook Mac's shoulder a little harder. Mac's eyes cracked.

"Wh'r yu in m'room?"

"To wake you up, and I hate to tell you this, kiddo. We aren't in your room...well not at home anyway." Mac frowned and rubbed his eye. His gaze shifted to his hand then followed the tubing to the IV bag. He looked to Jack confused.

"I don't know what happened either. We were coming in here to make a camera detector and I woke up back in Star Wars sheets again." Mac's eyes widened and he moved to sit up. Jack helped him. Mac took in the room and frowned.

"It's a padded room." Jack looked away his heart pitter-pattering. Mac looked at him worried.

"Jack, you ok?"

"They gave me a nightmare that matches this room exactly." Mac squeezed Jack's shoulder.

"A bad one." Jack nodded. Mac winced as he yanked out the IV. Jack looked at the bag eyebrows raised.

"It's an antibiotic." Mac leaned forward feeling his neck.  
"What did they do to my neck?"

"Let me look." Mac leaned forward. Jack pulled off the dressing and scowled.

"It's an incision. About two inches across." Mac groaned as Jack probed it with his fingers, "Mac...I think they put something in there." Mac grabbed Jack's shirt; his eyes widened with barely controlled panic. Jack sat beside Mac unable to offer any support other than taking his hand. Mac closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"You're breathing better." Jack offered.

"Great." Mac grumbled. He straightened his shoulders and looked directly at Jack.

"Where is it exactly?" Jack swallowed.

"At the base of your skull, over your spine."

"Shit." Mac whispered rubbing his head. He didn't know a lot about physiology, but knew enough to know that's where his automatic functions were controlled. Little unimportant things, like breathing. Mac gathered himself and took in Jack's appearance. His partner looked pale and drained. He was wet with sweat and wore nothing but boxers.

"You're only in boxers." Mac noted. Jack looked down less surprised than Mac expected.

"Woke up like that yesterday too."

"If it was yesterday."  
"Yeah." Jack took in the room, "Looks like they didn't leave you any clothes. Let's go to the Star Wars bedroom and grab some. They'll be big on you." Mac nodded. He wobbled a little when he got on his feet but moved much more smoothly than he had since he'd first been taken. How long ago was that? Mac rubbed his chest. His hook wounds were thickly crusted with scabs, the ant bites were healed completely and his bruises were nothing but faint yellow shadows. Mac paused and sniffed. He stuck out his tongue then moved it around his mouth. Jack looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"Don't you smell that?" Jack closed his eyes and sniffed. He licked his teeth.

"Smells sweet." He said surprised.

"And tastes like tin." Mac finished, "Probably nitrous dioxide mixed with something." Jack nodded. Gased. Made sense.

"Do you think that's how they got us off the helicopter?"

"I'm not sure they got us off the helicopter. I think they waited until we were on our way home." Jack's eyes widened.

"What?"

"That's the only thing that would explain how they got Doc Carl's meds." Jack nodded. Made sense. He grinned at Mac.

"I am so glad your brain is firing on more than one cylinder." Mac chuckled.

"Me too. Let's take advantage while we can." Jack's grin vanished. For the first time he felt the violation. At any time the psycho Kells could knock them out and do whatever they wanted with the Phoenix pair-even control their dreams. Jack jumped when Mac touched his arm.

"We can do this, Jack. They can only get to us if we let them, ok?" Jack gulped and nodded. He noticed Mac shivering.

"Let's get some clothes." Mac followed him back the way he came. Jack paused when Mac stopped in place and turned in a slow circle, "What?" Mac frowned.

"It's different."

"What?"

"This isn't the same place, we're somewhere different."

"How do you know that?"

"There's no attic and the floors are made of a different wood." Jack looked up surprised. Mac was right. Jack couldn't tell the floor was different but there was definitely no attic.

"That is oddly comforting." Jack said shuddering. Mac chuckled and leaned forward studying the photos. Jack followed his gaze. The photos were of the same places as the other ones, but empty of any people. Mac shook his head.

"You have to admire their attention to detail." Jack nodded and walked the rest of the way to the room he woke up in. He refused to call it his room. He stepped in then paused.

"What?"

"This is all different too." Mac glanced around. He hadn't been in the room before, but it looked like a room Jack had as a kid-down to Daisy Duke someone Jack thought of as a national treasure.

"What's different?" Jack waved at a blank wall behind the headboard of the bed.

"There are no shelves, no closet and no dresser." Jack turned to Mac. That means no clothes. Mac nodded. Both men knew that was standard Psych-ops; it makes the victim feel vulnerable. Mac shrugged.

"At least we have boxers."

"Yeah, but you know I hate boxers." Jack whined. Mac laughed. He

Patted Jack on the shoulder.

"I know, big guy."

"These people are evil."

"No argument from me." Mac agreed. He led the way down the hall.

The bathroom was now a stripped white room with a lidless steel toilet. Just like a jail. There were no closets. The kitchen was institutional. A cafeteria style table, steel sink and small sink were the only things in it. Jack opened the refrigerator and wrinkled his nose. Mac peeped in and had to agree. Salad, sludge in labelled tubes and cans of condensed milk. There were no cupboards. Jack sighed.

"At least I had good candy bars." Mac chuckled and moved to the living room. They still had the same couches but long fluorescent lights stretched the entire room. Mac winced, their brightness burning into his brain. Jack put a hand on his shoulder. He knew the headaches these type of lights caused Mac to suffer from.

All the other items in the room were gone. In their place on one wall was a giant clock. It had no hands and all of the numbers were 13. On the wall to their left was a spinner wheel, as seen on _Wheel of Fortune_. Instead of dollar amounts, words filled the multicolored wheel.

"This can't be good." Mac said as he read them, "Twang, boom, bang, gag...death…"  
"I seriously hate these people." Mac nodded. He led the way to the solarium and froze his mouth dropping open.

"Holy shit." Mac muttered.

"You know, gotta say, this is actually cool." Mac glared at his partner. Jack shrugged.

"Just saying." Instead of mountains, a derelict pirate ship sprawled in front of them-underwater. Long strands of kelp swayed in unseen current, schools of fish passed in and out of the wreck. Dirt, silt and barnacles showed through all of the holes or attached to the ship. Mac watched as a crap scuttled across their view. They could hear the slurp and see bubbles as if they wore diving gear. Mac leaned forward. Same thick bullet proof glass. Mac narrowed his eyes. The glass was warm to the touch and he could feel an occasional hum. Jack studied him.

"What?"

"I'll tell you later." He shot Jack a meaningful look. Jack nodded. With their enemies watching so closely it was better to not share plans and observations. The wicker furniture, plants and metal door were gone. In their place a bench made out of driftwood sat in the middle of a plain blue cement room. It wasn't meant to sit on judging by the sharp rusted nails and remnants of moldy bark. Jack shook his head,

"I don't understand, why go through all of this? I know these people are into psycho flicks, but this...this is just weird." Mac nodded and moved to the living room. He sank onto the couch and leaned back closing his eyes. He looked as exhausted as Jack felt. Jack opened his mouth to suggest Mac rest, but the image of Mac in the padded room made him shiver. Mac opened his eyes and leaned forward. Jack sat on the table beside him. He knew that look.

"What if it's telling a story?" Jack frowned.

"A story?"

"What is the point of a horror movie?"

"To scare the shit out of you."

"True, but there's more to it than that." Mac paused putting his thoughts in order, "Horror movies are reflections of what scare us in real life, right?"

"I'm not following?" Mac took a breath getting into what Jack thought of as professor mode.

"I saw an interview with Stephen King said that he got the idea of his monster or situation from something that scares him and then he magnifies it."  
"Making it scare the rest of us."

"Right. On top of that, I think a lot of them are about revenge." Jack frowned.

"Ok, you lost me."

"Why do you think it's always the nice girl that goes at the end?"

"Because she's hot." Mac laughed.

"True, but she's the only one the bad guy doesn't have an ax to grind with."

"Ok, so how does this explain all...this?" Jack waved his hand. Mac rubbed his forehead. Jack knew it was the beginning signs of a migraine.

"All stories are autobiographical to some degree, right? And Kells obviously is pissed at me for something. What if these things he or his family doing tell the story of what I did to them? They want to kill me slowly with a...poetic justice type of thing." Jack frowned taking a minute to process Mac's words. He looked at the kitchen through the doorway.

"The padded room, the prison kitchen...a mental institution?" Mac nodded. Jack snorted, "They are fucking crazy. What about the spiders?"  
"Spiders?"

"Spiders, ants, creepy crawlies…" Before Mac opened his mouth a demented laugh echoed around them

"Time to spin the wheel!" Jack shared a nervous glance with Mac.

"Sounds like Crust the Clown." He muttered. He regretted the words when he saw Mac blanch. They turned as the wheel began to spin the arrow ticking. It landed on Twang. Before they could move an arrow shot out of the wall and hit Jack in his upper thigh. Jack yelled in pain and fell back on the coffee table. It took a heart beat for Mac to catch up. He knelt by Jack's side.

"Jack!" Jack moaned his hands reaching for the shaft of the arrow.

"Dammit." He growled. Mac bent to look at the wound. It wasn't an arrow, it was a crossbow bolt. It had gone all the way through, probably scraping Jack's femur. The sharp barb stuck out the back of Jack's thigh. Jack's heart pounded at the look on Mac's face. Not good news. Mac opened his mouth to tell Jack he had a plan when all the lights went out. Mac sucked in a breath and automatically put a hand on Jack's arm. Jack's heart throbbed in time with the pain in his leg.

"Easy, kiddo." A dim light came on. The clock's numbers lit. Instead of 13 ever number was now 12.

Stephen King's views taken from his book _On Writing: A Memoir of The Craft_.


	20. Chapter 20

_Darkness is to space what silence is to sound; ie. the interval. -Marshall McLuhan_

It had all been a dream. Mac gasped his lungs locking closed. No one was coming. He was dying in a coffin; he couldn't move. Everything was blacker than black. Mac shook and screamed. The sound echoed in the small wooden coffin. Mac began to cry. Jack? Please...

Mac's knees gave out. He fell on all fours. His chest burned and he couldn't breathe. He died alone. Jack? Jack where are you? Please don't leave me in the dark...

"Take a breath." Jack said softly bending down and swinging his hand until he found Mac's bare back. Mac screamed. Oh crap, Jack thought. He cried out in pain as he plopped ungracefully onto the floor. He reached out until he could feel Mac's face.

"Mac, brother. It's me, Jack. C'mon breathe, please?" He felt Mac reach out and feel his hand. He followed his arm to Jack's shoulder.

"Is it you? Are you another nightmare?" Mac whispered. Jack's heart broke. He grabbed the back of Mac's head.

"It's me kiddo. You aren't alone. I might be a nightmare, but I'm here brother. Breathe for me, ok?" Jack found his arms full of distraught Mac. The kid shook. Jack held him close a long minute. Mac started breathing again.

"I...I... thought…"

"I know, bud. I know." Mac backed up and took one deep breath, "Sorry, big guy." Mac's voice wavered and he coughed. Jack flailed for the kid and found his shoulder. He squeezed. Jack's voice was tight with pain.

"No problem, brother. I hate to add more trauma, but my leg really hurts. Jack fought a cry of pain as his thigh spasmed.

"Oh shit! I'm sorry!" Mac's voice was fast and breathless. He inched his hand to the wound. Mac pulled away biting his lip in thought. He scowled at the feel the stickiness of his partner's blood. Grimacing Mac wiped it on his ribs. His skin crawled.

"Jack, you with me?" He asked as he blindly ran his hands along Jack's thigh.

"YNOW! I will be if you stop poking me!" Jack growled. Mac smiled.

"Now you know how it feels."

"What the-UNGH!" Jack's breathing picked up as Mac felt along the crossbow bolt. Jack shook under his gentle fingertips. Mac didn't like the sheen of sweat or the drops of blood pouring from the wound. Mac sat back thinking.

"That bad?" Jack gasped. Mac could hear the creak from the vinyl couch as Jack shifted back moving his leg to a less painful position.

"The bolt is keeping the blood loss down for now."  
"And...it's gonna really hurt...when you yank...it out." Mac could hear Jack grin.

"Well, yeah." Mac jumped when Jack's hand landed on his shoulder. Jack squeezed.

"That's what I love about you, brother...always positive." Jack chuckled.

"I try." Mac licked his dry lips. He glanced across the room. His heart chugged like a motor's pison. The clock numbers were gone. No light came in from the solarium-aquarium? Mac couldn't see the tip of his nose, "Ok, wait here."

"What? No!" Jack moved to sit up. Mac could hear him hiss in pain then flop back. Mac took a shaky breath. Darkness was only the absence of photons. Why should he be scared of the black night around him. Chills of terror ran up and down his spine like hands on a piano. There's nothing here that hadn't been here ten minutes ago. No monsters, nothing scary. It's just like having your eyes closed. He rubbed his sweaty hands along his boxers.

All his self-arguments popped like soap bubbles. He could smell pain, feel the splinters, couldn't breathe, dying alone...Jack trying to suppress a moan of pain snapped Mac awake. How many times did he man up going to insane heights? He could do this. He had to do this. Mac squared his shoulders. If only his mouth wasn't so dry...

"I have to get something to stop the bleeding." Mac felt along Jack's head until he felt his partner's ear. He leaned down careful to avoid Jack's leg, "I have a plan that might help get us out of here." He could feel breath on his shoulder as Jack opened his mouth to speak.

"Shhh." Mac hissed. He felt Jack nod.

"Stay here and stay awake." Mac gulped. He wasn't able to hide the tremor in his voice.

"How about I regale you with song?" Mac paused. Normally he'd say no, but could he think of a worse torture for those listening?

"Sounds good, make it something...perky."

"Perky? You got it ol' son." Mac smiled he turned away, "Mac, you can do this. You aren't alone, ok?"

"Yeah...thanks... be right back." Mac focused on his breathing. _I am not buried alive. I'm not alone._ Mac's heart thundered. His feet froze with terror. Who was he kidding? His breathing painfully hitched; his muscles painfully curled in. Mac's arms bubbled with goose pimped and he shook.

 _You are my sunshine, my only sunshine…_

Mac laughed the panic attack derailed.

"Seriously?"

"Hey you said perky!" Mac laughed. Hands out he stumbled toward the wall beside the door to the kitchen.

 _You make me happy, when the skies are gray_

 _You'll never know dear how much I love you_

 _Please don't take my sunshine away._

Mac laughed and mouthed the words to keep his brain quiet. Jack sounded

like a drunk cowboy singing opera. 

"Giving the bad guys a concert! Whoo!" Jack's voice was a little too loud.

He was trying too hard. Mac gulped and kept walking.

 _The other night, dear, while I lay sleeping_

 _I dreamed I held you here in my arms_

 _When I awoke, dear, I was mistaken_

 _And I hung my head, and I cried_

Mac paused as his fingertips brushed the wall. He turned relieved. He had

Something solid to guide him. He brushed his way along the wall. Instead of entering the kitchen he turned down the hallway.

Mac yelled in surprise as he brushed a photo frame off the wall and it landed with an explosion of broken glass. Mac grimaced.

"Ow, dammit."

"Mac, you ok?"  
"Yeah, just knocked a photo off. Ow. Broken glass. Shit. Jack brace yourself, I'll probably knock more off."

"Ok, watch the glass-you saw what happened with John McClane!" Mac bit his lip to keep from crying. He jumped to the other side of the hall only for his heel to come down on a shard. Mac bit his lip to keep his yell of pain silent. Of course, Jack wasn't fooled.

"Mac?"  
" Just keep sun shining away." Mac called. His voice wavered as he leaned against the wall and blindly pulled the glass out. His foot throbbed as he stepped forward. Jack decided to switch tracks. Mac listened and frowned. He frowned shaking his head. He had a very weird partner.

 _Blinded by the light_

 _Revved up like a deuce_

 _Another runner in the night…_

Mac yelped when a photo landed corner first on the top of his foot.

"Mac?"

"Just another photo." 

_Madman drummers bummers_

 _Indians in the summer…_

Mac paused. Jack's voice was getting weaker. He was skipping verses.

"Jack?"

 _Feelin' kinda older_

 _I tripped...the...the merry go round…_

Silence. Mac's heart pounded as he stood frozen waiting.  
"Jack? Jack?" No response, "Jack, please?" Nothing. Mac closed his eyes. The panic began to press in making the dark a cloying physical thing-icy oil clinging to his skin. _Pine, splinters, alone..._ Mac tried to swallow but his throat was blocked by sand bags of terror.

"Get a grip...I can do this...Jack?" Mac's voice was small even to his own ears. Mac cried out as he found another sliver of glass with the arch of his foot. He picked it out then took a step forward, then another. Mac was slogging through an ocean of glue. _Jack is counting on me...Jack needs me..._ With each chanted thought, Mac was able to move his feet.

Mac felt the doorway to Jack's room. Mac grunted as he ran into the bed and flipped face forward into the bed. Mac sighed. Finally. He pulled off the flannel sheets. Using his teeth Mac tore the top sheet in half; he did the same thing to one of the halves. The two quarters he tied around his feet. Mac stood up and staggered back the way he came.  
Mac's worry escalated when he knocked two more photos off the wall and Jack made no noise. Mac stumbled into the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator not surprised to see it had no light. He searched until he felt the cold cans of condensed milk. He pulled two out.

There was no ice. Mac moved to the sink and ripped the remaining half of sheet into strips. He soaked half of these in water until they dripped. Pawing blindly he found an old can opener. Mac turned and cried out as he kneed the unmovable table. He could feel blood run from a tear in his leg. Mac stumbled back to the doorway then across the blackness. Mac fell face first into the seat of the couch. The movement jarred Jack.

"Umm...Mac?" He slurred. Mac awkwardly pushed himself over the back of the couch and felt his way to Jack's side and sank down with a relieved breath.

"Who else would it be?" Mac said. He tried for a jaunty tone. Even through the blackness he could feel Jack scrutinizing him. Mac ignored it as he felt along Jack's wound. He took a deep breath. He braced himself to yank the crossbow bolt through to the back of Jack's thigh.

"Jack-"

"Do it." Jack murmured weakly. Mac gritted his teeth and yanked hard. Jack arched back and screamed in agony. Mac winced at the wash of blood that drenched his hands. Jack huffed in fast breaths. Mac opened the cans of evaporated milk.

"Sorry." He murmured

"Wha-ARGH!" Mac poured both cans on Jack's wound. Jack howled and automatically tried to shove Mac away. Mac pulled out the dry strips of sheet and wrapped them around Jack's leg. He tightened the thick tire of bandages until he couldn't feel any more blood drip free. Mac ran his hand down Jack's leg until he found Jack's foot. Mac let out a breath. Jack still had a pulse.

"You still with me, big guy?" Mac asked. Jack sucked in air.

"N...n...no prob...lem. What the hell was that?" Jack's voice was strained but normal toned.

"It's evaporated milk. It acts as a natural coagulant.

"Good...I thought you were still pissed about the shots." Mac chuckled and slumped back.

"I think we're even now." Mac patted Jack's knee and worked his way back to the couch. Mac slid closer to his partner trying to banish the sound of his best friend's ear splitting scream of agony. Mac wiped his hands off on one corner of the wet sheet then turned to Jack.

"Jack?" Nothing. Mac reached out and worked his hand blindly to Jack's jugular. Jack was unconscious and slick with sweat. Mac leaned over and listened to the older man's chest. He closed his eyes and relaxed there a minute taking in a long breath.

" 'm 'k?" Jack slurred. Mac jumped back startled. He nodded forgetting Jack couldn't see it.

"You'll be fine." Mac hoped it sounded more convincing than it did inside his head.

"You 'k?" Mac swallowed and turned away.

"Yeah."  
"Your plan?" Mac smiled.

"You're going to like it."


	21. Chapter 21

Jack fought to stay frozen when the lights blared into life, as Mac predicted. Jack took long deep breaths breathes through the wet sheet. He kept his eyes closed and face in the corner of the couch. Hidden under his body he held the crossbow bolt; his dried blood flaked off in his nervous hand.

They were good, Jack had to admit. He only heard them because of the silence of the room. He forced himself to relax when he was jabbed in the side with some sort of knife. By the footfalls, Jack counted three.

"He's out, where's the other one?" The voice was soft and wispy. It sounded like an old man. Jack frowned. He didn't recognize it.

"MacGyver couldn't have gotten far." Jack's heart sank. That voice he knew. The third voice answering wasn't a surprise.

"I'll check the back room." Chuck, Matty's new hire for helicopter medic. It made sense, Jack realized. How else would the sick Kells family find Mac's house?

"I'll check the kitchen." Beasley, Chuck's partner.

Jack moved his good leg a couple inches, getting a better angle. The old man huffed toward Jack.

"Always sends me to do the hard bits, doesn't he." Jack frowned. The man had an accent-Irish? Jack heard the near silent slither of a knife pulled from its scabbard. Now or never.

Jack rolled over and pivoted on his ass. He swung the bolt out with all his strength. It landed deep into the man's thin side sunk all the way to Jack's hand. The force of the blow moved the man to his right; unable to stop the down thrust, the knife imbedded deep in the cushion where Jack's head had been. Jack grabbed the guy's wrist over the knife with his right hand. His left arm circled the man's elbow and Jack leaned back. The old man screamed as his left arm cracked and bent in an unnatural curve. Jack twisted his arm away from the knife. Yanking the knife free, Jack slashed upwards slitting the man's throat in one powerful swipe. Jack ignored the wash of blood that splattered across his naked skin. The man collapsed backwards his gushing blood forming a thick puddle in seconds. Jack heard shouting behind him.

The old man had worn full TAC gear and a Smith and Wesson M&P. Jack ripped it off taking the whole hip holster with it. He staggered to his feet and spun falling over when his leg collapsed. Jack swore. He heard solid thuds and Mac cry out in pain. Jack gritted his teeth as he turned to his side using the back of the couch to brace his arm. He didn't see Mac. A small man in black gear, Chuck, knelt bleeding on all fours in the center of the kitchen. He held his face blood poured down an empty eye socket and through the man's fingers. Nice. Jack drew a bead and put the traitor down. Jack yelled as he hopped to his feet then down to the end of the couch.  
Down the hall, Jack could see Beasley whaling on Mac. Jack shot a round, but knew it wouldn't do much more than make the turd turn to face Jack. The balding man looked up and grinned at Jack. He reared back a bloody knife in his hand. Jack fired three more times, all misses. He hopped as fast as he could to the end of the hall, but fell to his knees. Feeling weighed down and slow, he rolled to line up a good shot. As he pulled the trigger, the knife stabbed down. Mac screamed. Beasley straightened and Jack capped him in the head.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Mac's breathing sounded loud in his ears. He hoped the damp sheet over his nose and mouth muffled the wheeze. He closed his eyes and fought panic. He could feel his chest hurt as muscles worked for air. Mac listened carefully, but couldn't hear Jack. Mac smiled. He expected no less. Even with the serious wound in his thigh, Jack was still one of the deadliest fighters on the planet. He was probably even more so now because he was grumpy. He thought a crossbow bolt was undignified somehow.

Mac bit back a groan as the fluorescent lights exploded into life. Mac closed his eyes waiting for his eyes to get accustomed to the overly bright light. He blinked and squinted through the kitchen table seats. There they were, three guys. Mac ducked back into the shadows more. He recognized two of them, the other one was an old man. Mac frowned then nodded. He looked like an emaciated Otto Raines with grey hair, obviously a father or grandfather. Mac shook his head. What a fucked up family.

Mac studied the trio. They wore TAC gear, but it wasn't as good as Phoenix's. In order to be effective, war gear had to fit the soldier like a second skin. He knew this from personal experience. These three looked like sloppy imitations of Jack. Mac though they might be costumes-except the weapons. These were real and deadly. Mac bit the damp sheet to keep from crying out as the oldest man poked Jack with a knife. Jack didn't break his easy breathing rhythm.

"He's out, where's the other one?" The man sounded like Lurch from the Addams family. Mac silently crept out from under the bench. He pulled off his wet sheet and silently wrapped three cans of evaporated milk in the cloth and twisted it.

"MacGyver couldn't have gotten far."

"I'll check the back room."

"I'll check the kitchen." Mac forced in a deep breath and braced himself. Of course it would be Chuck, the largest of the three. Chuck walked in and stood in the center of the floor slowly turning. He held a long machete-looking knife. The man stepped closer. Mac waited until he was close and bent to look under the bench. Mac yelled and swung the impromptu mace down with all his strength. Chuck fell face first to the ground. Mac reared back to hit him again. Chuck reached out, grabbed Mac's ankle and pulled.

Mac yelped then grunted as he flew backwards the back of his head bouncing off the steel of the sink. Mac blinked away stars and scurried away from the fallen man; he was too slow. He lost his grip on the cans as Chuck scraped him across the floor. Chuck was on him like a cougar. Mac cried out as the giant fists slammed into his face bouncing his head off the hard floor. Mac tried to buck the man off him. Mac gasped. Chuck leaned forward shifting so his knee pressed hard on Mac's sternum stealing his breath. Chuck laughed then leaned in to say something undoubtedly superior and cruel. Mac slammed his forehead into the man's jaw snapping it. Mac shook his head. Everything spun instead of steadying. How the hell was Jack able to do this all the time?

At the fleeting thought, Mac remembered what Jack had taught him. Jack called it "the gentlemanly art of fighting dirty, nasty, and mean." Mac stiffened his thumbs and jammed them into Chuck's eyes. Chuck arched back screaming. Mac pulled the man's shirt and twisted. Chuck sprawled beside him. Mac swayed to his feet and kicked the man as hard as he could. With bare feet he didn't break anything, but the man wheezed and flopped to the floor.

Mac turned to see Jack fall behind the couch. He took a step to help his friend when Beasley kicked the back of his knees. Mac yelled in surprise. The smaller man grabbed his hair and tugged him backwards. Mac cried out as he felt his Quadriceps stretch beyond their capacity. Mac punched over his head and winced when he hit the man's collar bone. Beasley pivoted and slammed Mac onto his back. Mac went with the movement and tugged Beasley down to the hard floor. The man flew into the hall. Mac gritted his teeth and scuttled over to him. The smaller man writhed in pain his back slashed by the broken glass. Mac rolled on top of him.

Taking a page from Chuck's book, Mac put his full weight on the man's breast bone. Beasley's neck flexed back, reddened and his arteries stood out like cords. Mac socked him with a solid right-left triple combo. Beasley's nails dug into the side of Mac's head as he grabbed Mac's ears. Mac cried out forced to lean forward or lose them. Beasley bucked and Mac skidded face first along broken glass. Mac screamed as the flesh over his chest wounds scraped off and glass dug deep into his muscles.

Mac heard the loud bang of a gun. His heart pounded. Jack? Mac gasped and pushed to all fours. Mac gave Beasley a mule kick to the face. Beasley gurgled as his nose crunch then gushed blood. Mac rolled over onto his ass. Ignoring the deep glass punctures, Mac drove his heel into Beasley's face. The man swayed aside, grabbed Mac's leg and slid him across the blood-stained floor. The smaller man rolled on top of Mac and hammered blow after blow down. Mac felt his skin slashed off his cheekbone, nose and chin. His eyes swelled and the scrap along half of his face tore open. Mac's head bobbed into a haze. From far away he heard the loud coughing of a gun. Beasley reared back and drew a hunting knife. The man glanced over his shoulder. Jack's bullets went wide. Beasley was hunched too low. Mac gathered himself and bucked Beasley backwards.

The knife fell. Mac screamed as it tore into his wounded shoulder tearing his through and through hook wound. A hot shower of blood painted Mac's face and chest. Mac spit and grabbed the knife. Mac screamed as he tugged. It didn't move. Mac realized he was pinned to the floor. Mac's hand fell off the knife and his eyes drooped. Everything went dark.

"...c'mon, kiddo." Mac's head swiped to the side with a flat palmed slap. Mac's breath caught as his eyes snapped open.

"Ah!" Mac yelled trying to back away from a blood-spattered stranger. Hand held his shoulder.

"Easy, brother. It's me." Mac blinked then sank back breathing fast and heavy.

"Jack? You 'k?" Mac's mouth was clamped shut by pain. Jack leaned back.

"Yeah, no new wounds if that's what you mean." Mac reached to his shoulder relieved to find it bandaged with Star Wars sheet. He was glad he was out for that one. Mac gathered himself and pushed up to an elbow. He leaned forward gagging. Mac closed his eyes as a swirl of darkness spun the room. He plopped back. Taking slow deep breaths the world slowly tuned in to their prison. Mac sprawled on the couch and Jack sat on the table. His partner was ghastly pale and looked like he was about to fall over. The man's thigh was covered by blood. Mac had no idea if it was Jack's or not.

"That was a good plan, now what Kemosabe?"

"Did you see where they came in?" Jack shook his head. He wiped his face with a red-tinged slice of sheet. Mac sat up and studied the room. He smiled.

"The aquarium!"

"What? You think they swam in?"

"No, when I touched it it hummed and felt warm." Jack scowled.

"We only have to break unbreakable glass."

"It's polycarbonate and it's not unbreakable. We have to-" Both men jumped as the insane clown laugh blared. Jack and Mac shared a worried glance as the wheel began to tick as it spun.

"Do you think it's really chance?" Jack whispered. The wheel seemed to go fast and slow at the same time.

"Is anything the Kells do?"

"Good- Shit." The ticker stopped on Boom.

"The solarium!" Mac shouted. Both men worked together to hobble to their feet. Stiffly they shuffled toward across the room both yelling in pain. They had just passed the doorway and slumped against the bare wall breathing heavy. Jack turned to ask Mac a question.

Mac's eyes widened, he grabbed the back of his neck and slumped to the cement screaming in torment. Jack's heart froze.

"MAC!"


	22. Chapter 22

Mac closed his eyes, but it did nothing to stop the fireworks exploding through his brain. A blow torch burned through the back of his neck. A high pitched whine buzzed his skull like a dentist drill.

"Jack!" He reached out and tried to suck in a painful breath until Jack's familiar warm callused hand took his. He couldn't see Jack and his heart danced wildly in his ears. He knew Jack would be freaking out. Mac flopped to the cement unable to maintain any kind of balance.

"Cut it out!" He shouted. His hand covered his neck. He could feel the heat. He guessed it probably was some sort of lithium ion battery and explosive heated by remote control.

"JAC! Cut it out!" Mac screamed. Mac felt Jack roll him onto his belly and tilt his head. Mac bit his lip wincing at the pain and blood filling his mouth. He felt a sharp stab then his head exploded.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Jack knelt beside his friend; his hands shook. He reached out and felt along Mac's neck. The skin was bubbling and Jack could see a light glowing through the skin. Mac screamed in pain and curled forward. Jack pulled the knife. Should he cut it out? What if he snipped Mac's spine? Mac flopped forward writhing like a dying fish.

"Cut it out!" Jack grimaced and nodded. He rolled Mac onto his stomach, "Cut it out!" Mac screamed again. The glow was now as bright as a candle. Shit. Jack leaned Mac over his knees and bent forward holding Mac's head steady against his leg. Jack took a deep breath and sliced into Mac's neck. Mac's breathing hitched and he moaned as Jack separated sutures then pulled the folds of skin apart. Jack winced at the brightness emitted by the bomb.

It was the size of a large marble. It was stitched to the tissues close to Mac's spine. Sweat dripped down Jack's face as he carefully dug it out. His hand shook, but Mac didn't move. Jack realized the blonde had probably passed out. With a moist thunk, it popped out and flew across the room. Jack stared at it a second surprised. He pushed backward. Holding onto Mac he dragged them both to the doorway. He saw sparks and the whine was deafening. Jack got them behind the wall as it blew.

He had no idea what was in it, but it packed a wallop. The plaster above their heads cracked and chipped dust flying everywhere. Jack heard another crash and the lights in the aquarium room buzzed and flashed. Jack shook his head. He could feel blood running down his face. Jack gently laid Mac down and used the door jam to pull himself to his feet. Jack grinned. He couldn't have done better if he'd planned it.

The explosive had landed under the rough old bench. The dried wood exploded across the room and hung half in/ half out of the shattered bullet proof glass. The undersea scene was now a flashing digital wall spiderwebbed with cracks. Jack wiped blood out of his eyes and staggered forward. He reached up and leaned against the driftwood, the nails and splinters digging painfully into his pectoral muscles.

Jack paused leaning against the broken screen his chest heaving. Everything threatened to wink out. He shook his head and worked the wood toward him. Working it back and forth he opened the hole. Jack heard a loud rip and the wood fell out into daylight. Jack sucked in air and put his head through the plate-sized hole sucking in a deep breath. It took a second for his eyes to adjust.

"Holy shit." He looked down and down and down. They were still in Stubbs. He'd pushed a hole through the screen of the drive-in. Either this screen was super-sized or Jack didn't realize how high they truly were. He ducked back in and turned to Mac who was moaning as he woke up. Jack hobbled to the living room and found one of the wrinkled wet sheets. He helped Mac sit up and wrapped his neck. Jack didn't like how much blood soaked through the dressing. Mac's eyes fluttered open.

"Jha-" Mac's mouth sounded like it was full of cotton balls. Jack lifted Mac's head and studied his eyes. The pupils looked normal. Normal was good. Mac blinked and seemed to have trouble staying awake. Jack frowned and sat him up against the wall.

"You rest ol' son, I got this." Mac mumbled a long line of gibberish then passed out again. Jack studied the hole he'd made. Mac would be able to whip up a bomb or chainsaw. Jack? Well, Jack would have to go with what he knew; Jack frowned. What did he know? A big fat nothing. Jack shook his head.

Mac always told him that if you stop and think you can solve any problem. Fucking fantastic. Jack swore his head was going to explode. He stared around the room. His eyes froze on the fluorescent lights. He remembered Mac going off on him not having 'explosion' proof something or other on the lights in his garage when he accidentally slammed into it with the handle of a broom. Jack studied the fixture. He doubted that Kells would go out of their way to stop their lights from exploding. He glanced at the digital screen. It had to have juice right? Jack shrugged. What the hell? Let's see what happens when they both slammed into each other.

Jack moaned as everything swirled around took a deep breath and staggered into the living room. He hissed in pain as he bent and removed the old man's belt. Jack wobbled to the other guys and took their belts. He turned back the way he came and found himself on the floor looking up. Jack winced at the pain in the back of his head. His thigh screamed in pain as he rolled over and crawled to the couch. He levered himself up and waited for the world to stop its crazy merry go round.

The fake clock dinged. Jack scowled. What now? The countdown now hit 7. Jack frowned. It took a space of time then the numbers all clicked to 6. Counting down to what? Jack decided they didn't want to find out. He pushed past the couch then paused. He eyeballed the coffee table. In the glimpse of the screen he'd gotten, he'd noticed that it curved downward then out, like half of a radar dish. The screen was old and rust lines showed where the steel frame had rotted through. Could they slide down it? Jack grinned. What the hell? Mac wasn't the only one who could come up with crazy schemes, right?

Fighting dark spots flickering across his vision. Jack connected the belts then standing under the closest edge of the lights he swung up. The belt wrapped around the wire holding the lights up. Jack braced himself. Yelling in pain he tugged adding his full weight to the belt. Jack slammed into the cement. He had a second to roll over and cover his head with his arms. There was a loud crash; electricity zapped across the room. Jack felt wrapped in static all of his hair standing on end. He slowly turned to look when there was a loud whump and the room flared with flickering light, gagging smoke, and heat. Fire?

The wall behind him was engulfed in flames. Well shit, that wasn't what he wanted. Jack coughed and backed away. The fire burned bright and hot. Jack slumped beside Mac. They were going to get burned alive. It had been on his bucket list; he'd already had a taste. He wasn't a fan. Jack rubbed his sore head. Think, think, think...or better yet-

"Mac! Wake up!" Jack shook Mac hard. Mac stubbornly stayed unconscious. Fuck. Jack jumped at a loud boom from the blazing wall. He poked his head around the door and grinned. Hell yeah! He meant to do that. The fire had burned through a section of-whatever the hell drive-in screens were made of and left a wide window of open air. Flames still licked the corners, but they had a way out. Jack fell against the door jam as he pulled himself to his feet. He fell-walked over to the open area and looked out. He grinned. Fire trucks and Phoenix TAC teams were still clustered around the husk of the mall. He could see some heading their way. Jack gagged. Burnt plastic. Poisonous black smoke. They didn't have time to waste. Jack frowned taking in the curve-calling it a curve was being generous, he admitted. It was steep, but no steeper than a cliff snowboarders go down, right? Jack tried to swallow. Right. He shook his head and burned his hand as he braced against the side of the opening.

Well, if it didn't work it'd be over quick. He hoped.

Jack's world was a wave of black curvy lines as he turned the coffee table onto its back and filled it with couch cushions. He couldn't see his hand in front of his face by the time he pulled Mac onto his lap in their makeshift sled. Jack had used the trio of belts to anchor him. He made sure they were aimed perfectly straight and cut it. Jack cling to Mac screaming in terror as they free fell barely touching the white screen.

We're dead, we're dead, we're dead...Jack whump head as they hit a steel girder. He leaned to the side to prevent the sled from tipping and rolling. They bounced. Jack heard the squeal as the table kept contact with the surface. They were slowing. Jack forced his eyes open enough to see the bottom of the screen was curving up. It's gonna work! I knew it was-

To late Jack remembered what happened to things that flew off a ramp too fast.  
"SHIIIIIIIIT!" Mac flew out of his hands as soared. He had no idea how high they were. At least they were at the bottom of the screen. Jack had a second to enjoy the feeling of flying and the bright blue sky before he plummeted like a boulder. He remembered hearing that the art of falling was missing the ground. He didn't.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Pain. Mac moaned and opened his eyes. Faces swirled around him. Blurr of sound. No, not again. Please...Mac pushed hands away; his head thrashed back and forth. They covered his face...can't breathe...NO, please, not again...his chest hurt. Straps around his wrists. No. Mac pushed the bodies around him. Zombies...killing him...NO. He screamed then fell back choking.  
 _Hey, easy brother. You're ok._

Jack? Jack's gone. He's alone...cold...Mac shivered. Splashed with frozen water...shoulder, he's hanging from his shoulder ! Mac's head shook as he rolled forward. Hooks shredded his flesh, he hung over...ant! Mac's chin tilted back he tried to take in air...hurt. Mac tried to scream, but couldn't breathe.

 _Mac, you're ok. We got out. We're on our way to Phoenix. C'mon, brother, breathe._

JACK! Why didn't you come? Mac's chest swelled, agony, about to burst. More voices...he almost recognized them.

 _Sally, get ten of versed._

 _Yes, doctor._

 _What's wrong? Talk to me, doc. What's going on?_

 _Jack, you need to settle down, Carl and Sally have Mac, ok? You have enough problems of your own._

 _Laura…_

 _Jack! I mean it…_

Mac couldn't move his muscles. He flopped back. Darkness. He couldn't move...Coffin! He was dying! Alone, JACK!

 _Intubate?_

 _Not until we find out how deep that neck wound is. Call Li…_

Had to get away. Mac forced his eyes open. Lights overhead, spinning, noises so loud, Mac lurched to the side his gut inverting. JACK! Don't leave...don't leave…

Warm fingers brushed his hair back. Mac pulled his head away. No, no more, please…

 _Easy, Mac, you're ok. Jack is having his leg sewn up. You'll see him soon. You need to calm down, breathe for me, ok?_ Mac shoved at the hand and tried to spin away. Hands stopped him. Needles. Blurry. His body flopped like putty. He cracked his eyes. Five sun burned into his retinas.

Please...everything drifted like a balloon against a vast blue sky…

Hands flipped Mac. His head rested in a loop. Neck up, wrenches twisting his spine, snapping his skull. Mac tried to scream in pain but he couldn't move.

 _Looks like we got lucky. The cut is deep. Several blood vessels were cut but none of the neural ganglia…_

Mac moaned and tried to move...Jack? Ja-

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Jack hurt like hell. He spit out sand.

"Ma-" Jack curled into a ball his chest felt like a truck drove over him. He moaned and tried opening his eyes. Everything spun. The world was in red sepia tones. Jack yelled in pain as he pushed himself onto his back. He arched his back and gasped trying to force air past his sore muscles. The white screen above them had a long streak down its center. Jack grinned and winced at the sting in his face. They did it, they were free.

"Mac-" Jack called. He turned his head and his heart faltered. Mac sprawled beside him. He looked like a massive smear of blood and bruise. Jack tried to inch toward his partner, but flopped to the dust, pain stealing the world in black waves.

"Jack?" Jack moaned and slowly opened his eyes. Jack cried out as a bright light speared through his eyes and into his brain. He blindly reached up to push the light away.

"Matty, he's waking up." Jack frowned his sluggish brain slowly wriggling in his head.

"Doc Carl?" The young curly haired doctor grinned down at him. Jack smiled glad he'd gotten it right. The sun was blocked by three other figures crouching around him. Riley and Bozer looked like they'd aged decades. Jack scowled up at Matty.

"What'd I do wrong?" Jack's voice was barely above a breathe. Matty rolled her eyes and crouched gently brushing Jack's face.

"You tell me. We dropped you off at Mac's last night. You were resting all day then did some sort of death defying leap from a hundred feet up." Jack frowned. He groaned as he rubbed his face.

"Last night? No...no, was longer. They took us from the helicopter...Chuck...Beasley." Jack yawned and closed his eyes. He was so tired.

"Took you-? Where are Chuck and Beasley?" Matty demanded.

"They were off at midnight."

"Get them on the phone, NOW!"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Doc, get both of them to Phoenix and do not let them out of your sight!"

"You got it, Matty."

"Sally? Keep him breathing." Sally and Laura worked feverishly over a limp broken MacGyver. Sally glanced up her eyes sparking with rage.

"You better believe it." Matty smiled. If Sally had her way, she'd take ten minutes with Mac's tormentors and put them to deadly use.

Matty shielded her eyes and looked up the yellowed half broken screen above them. She narrowed her eyes studying the burnt opening near the top. Her stomach flipped as she thought about her boys flying down in a deadfall. Matty watched as Jack and Mac were bundled up in tubes, bandages and monitors then wheeled into one of the Phoenix vans.

"Riley, Bozer-with me. We need to clean this nest out. Rains and at least his wife are still out there." Matty pulled her handgun a Kahr CW9 and racked the slide.

"Let's go." Bozer and Riley shared a grim look and nodded falling into step behind her.


	23. Chapter 23

A narrow corrugated steel structure held the giant screen up. Matty waved at TAC. Gordenson the leader of Zulu led the way, his M5 seeking targets. Matty followed her pistol drawn and ready. Two more TAC agents, Riley and Bozer followed them up a creaking rusted ladder.

At the top a metal door looked welded shut. Gordenson turned the knob surprised to see it open easily. He nodded at the others. They smoothly breached. After they cleared the building, Matty and the Phoenix pair entered.

"Oh, my god." Bozer whispered. Matty nodded as she sheathed her Kahr. She strode across a short cat walk then descended a flight of stairs. She stood on the long catwalk at the bottom of the stairs. Below her she saw a vat of ants, a freezer with a window, bloodied meat hooks, and a chair surrounded by lights and speakers.

Across the open area she could see a control booth with blackened windows. She walked to the path across the room. She paused. On the other side of the open area two small apartments laid side by side. Matty narrowed her eyes easily making out the subtle differences between them-the most notable being the blackened burned areas in the one on the right. Classic gaslighting, but why?

"Bozer work with forensics, I want to know everything that ever happened in this building."

"Yes, Ma'am." Matty strode across the catwalk to the control room. TAC held the door open. Matty felt her gut drop. It takes a lot to make a TAC agent look that sick. Matty bit her lip feeling a flood of rage. Her hands shook as she formed fists.

"Those son of bitches!" Riley spat. Matty nodded. Filling three walls were screens of all sizes, all extreme close up of a distraught MacGyver. Data scrolled at the bottom of each screen. A long horseshoe bench ran the length of the room. Control boards and computers blinked.

"These were just used." Riley said. Matty nodded at Gordenson. He turned talking into his radio. If they moved fast enough, they could catch the Kells. Matty frowned at a stack of papers and files she shuffled through them.

"Adaptability Programming."

"Apple-pear." Matty nodded agreement. She glanced through and saw profiles of Mac's EOD team. She paused at a picture of Mac. Matty smiled sadly. He had been so young. Matty froze and glanced over. She'd felt movement on the metal floor below her feet. She glanced over. Riley hooked her rig up to the computers and started sifting through data. Matty moved closer to the one-way glass. She turned off one of the monitors and watched the reflection behind her. Matty smiled. It was her lucky day. Raines and one of the triplets crouched and slowly creeped past the window. Matty rolled her eyes. For a psych-ops operator, the big man didn't have a clue how to sneak.

Matty waited until they were past the door then silently strode across the control room.

"Ma-?" Riley asked puzzled. Matty held a hand to her lips. She lined up her Kahr taking time for exact aiming. She smiled and squeezed off two quick shots. They snapped so close together only a professional with years of field experience would know there were two bullets. Both were perfect.

Raines cried out as his right leg jerked out from under him. He slumped to the railing. That was for Jack. The blonde woman fell backwards on the stairs holding her shoulders. That was for Mac. TAC swarmed like bullet ants and cuffed the pair. Matty glanced at Riley.

"Suck this place dry of info."

"You got it." Riley said with a grin.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

"Jack-" Jack moaned. The despairing voice floated across the calm sea between resting and waking.

"Jack! Please!" Jack frowned. Mac? Why was Mac so upset? Jack tried to ask but his lips seemed to be made of sand.

"It's ok, Mac. Jack's sleeping, see?" Jack frowned and grunting with effort opened his eyes. Fighting to keep them open, Jack turned his head. Sally sat beside Mac's bed trying to calm the young genius. Mac thrashed in bed, pushed her away and reached into the air as if grabbing things that weren't there. The kid was confused and covered by bruises and scabs of terrible wounds. His face was flushed and sweat ran freely down his face and bare chest. Hair curled close to his scalp as he shook his head trying to unseat an oxygen mask. Jack could hear Mac's breathing across the room. It almost drowned out his soft alarmed cries.

"Mac?" Jack managed. Sally redirected one of Mac's hands away from his face. She glanced over her shoulder at the older man.

"Jack! Glad to see you're up! How are you feeling?" Sally ducked when Mac moved to grab her hair. Jack smiled weakly.

"How's Mac?"

"He's…" Sally weaved back dodging an elbow then leaned forward muscling Mac onto his back, "...fine." Jack frowned and tried to sit up. As soon as he moved what little strength he had melted away.

"Relax, Jack. He's ok, I promise. Doc Carl didn't want to sedate him again until he ran more tests. Mac spiked a fever and…" Sally replaced the O2 mask when Mac managed to shake it off. She brushed aside shaking hands, "...is a little confused." Mac's eyes opened and stared wide-eyed at the ceiling. He arched back.

"Jack! Jack!" Jack's heart lurched at the abandonment in his partner's distraught scream. Jack tried to climb out of bed, but only managed to twitch his arm.

"Shhhh...easy, Angus. You're ok, I promise. You aren't alone. We're all here. See Jack's right over there." Sally reached over and wrung out a cool cloth. She dabbed Mac's face. Mac stilled turning into the coolness. His eyes closed.

"That's it, see." Jack smiled. Sally only used that motherly tone when Mac was her patient. He was hands down her favorite. Mac blindly tried to take the rag away. Sally's effect on Mac, however, was something completely different. He was too out of it right now, but Sally always ended up taking the full brunt of Mac's anger and frustration when forced to go to medical. Jack winced remembering some truly epic clashes between the two. Sally's calm humor sent Mac into nuclear meltdown quicker than being strapped to an exploding missile. When she had to, Sally wasn't above...well, let's call it creative nursing.

"No more...please...no…" Mac's voice dribbled off to a whisper. Finally, the blonde's head spilled to the side. His mouth hung open and his coarse gasping eased. Sally sighed and brushed wet hair away from his slick face. Sally looked down at him with worry and affection. She shook her head and stood up.

Jack chuckled when her bones cracked as she stretched. The red head's elfin features hardened into a glare that would make paint jump off the wall. Jack swallowed and turned away. Sally pulled out a tissue and sneezed. Jack remembered she'd been sick.

"How are you?" Sally rolled her eyes brushing his concern away with annoyance.

"How long has he been…" Jack waved his hand in the air. Sally sighed bending over Mac and rearranged the lone sheet covering him. Mac's chest was swaddled with blood-tinged dressings. He wore blue shorts. Gauze wrapped his feet and hands. Everywhere Jack looked on his exposed arms, legs, head and neck were short lines of stitches. Jack could see a thick pad taped to the back of Mac's neck.

"We picked you up in Stubbs, "Sally turned to study the digital clock on the wall, "around ten this morning. It's dinnertime now…" Jack squirmed as his gut growled. Sally smiled.

"And supper should be here-"

"Right now." Laura said as she walked in the door holding a tray. Jack groaned as he sat up. His right thigh had white gauze wrapped around it, his left knee was wrapped in ACE. Jack coughed as he straightened. He wriggled back and forth to loosen the gown around his neck. Lisa set his tray up and pushed the bedside table closer. Jack swallowed. A giant double quarter pound cheeseburger with all the fixings, a mountain of cheese and bacon fries, a salad and thick chocolate milk shake greeted him under the dome he lifted away.

"Oh that looks so damn good." Jack gushed. Laura nudged his arm with his hip. He looked up and she winked at him.

"I got it just for you." Jack's face blushed. Laura laughed and sauntered out. Sally glanced at Jack and moved to open her mouth…

"Not one word."

"Ja-"

"Not one, Sally."

"You are so her man-cub."

"Shut up." Jack growled. He closed his eyes and tore into the food. Sally snorted and returned her focus to Mac who laid on his side, eyes closed. Mac's moist breathing was easy. Occasionally he mumbled reached out with a hand. Sally dabbed his back with a damp washcloth. Mac turned his head; his face scrunched in pain. He gasped then jerked awake backing to the head of the bed. He swung at something only he saw. Sally sat beside him and gently caught his arm. Mac stared at her eyes wide, almost black with huge pupils. His lips moved, but neither Jack or Sally knew what he said.

"What tests?"

"Dr. Li wants to test his nerve conductivity."  
"What? Why?" Sally's face hardened. Mac flopped onto his back and drifted off again.

"He's worried all those insect bites might have caused damage." Jack gulped. He fought a yawn and brushed his eyes. His shoulders stooped and he was so tired the world was muted gray.

"What about everything else?"

"His pneumonia is hanging on, he has a deep tissue bruise in his lower right rib cage area, and the wounds." Sally absently ran her hand along the tape holding thick bandages across his chest and shoulders.

"Meat hooks?" Jack asked his voice soft and deadly. Sally shared a venomous gaze with him and nodded. She doesn't trust herself to say anything. Jack could see her shake with fury. A red flush streaked across her neck and chin.

Mac's eyes opened. His mouth opened and he tried to take in a deep

Breath and broke off coughing and gagging. He curled into a ball groaning in misery. Jack stood up.

"Get back in that bed!" Sally hissed. Jack opened his mouth to protest, but everything swirled away.


	24. Chapter 24

"Lover? Are you awake?" Mac moaned and turned away. Hot, he was surrounded by fire. Smoke. Can't breathe- "Maaac? You in there, sunshine?" Mac frowned. The voice was strange-but he knew it. Mac opened his sweat-weighted eyes and frowned. Who?

"There you are. I've missed you, Angus." Mac's heart jumped. Blonde, fangs, she ate his entrails-! Mac screamed, or tried to. He swung a hand to push her off but his arm wouldn't move. He glanced over. He was tied to a bed.

"Nng." Mac tried. Nothing in his mouth worked. It took him a long minute to realize something cottony was stuffed into his mouth. He felt a long fingernail trace its way down his cheek, his jaw, his chest, his-

Mac thrashed trying to throw the woman off him. This had to be another torment, another hallucination. She smiled leaned forward. He felt her hand rest on his chest. She pressed, hard. Mac tried to scream and suck in air. The gag choked him. Everything rippled with darkness. She released pressure. Mac distantly felt her curl around him. He choked. His hands balled into fists, but the restraints were leathers used for the most psychotic patients.

His head thrashed as she reached over and strand by strand brushed wet hair away from his sticky face.

"You've aged well." Mac puffed fast, trying to work air past the lump moving to the back of his throat. No, not suffocating. Not like this. JACK! This was all a dream. This couldn't be real. No, not again. Please-JACK!

"Shh-shhh." Mac sank back in relief as the gag was pulled from the back of his throat. He closed his eyes moaning against the agony and relief of the deep breath he managed, "See isn't that better? No, I have waited to talk to you for a long time. I have a lot to say." Mac bucked screaming. Nails tore into his chest again. He could feel blood drip through his wet dressings and run down his side.

"Do you remember that night?"

"What the hell are you doing here?" Matty demanded her fists on her hips. Jack rubbed his face and glanced up at Sally who offered no help.

"I heard you got Kells or Raines and one of the psycho-triplets. I want to be there when you question them." Jack could feel Matty's gaze rake up and down taking in his wounds and pallor. Riding in a wheelchair pushed by Mac's least favorite nurse wasn't helping his case much. Jack let out a relieved breath as the Phoenix director turned her gaze to Sally. Sally smiled back a picture of open innocence. Jack felt the bus roll over him.

"Thanks Sal-" Jack muttered.

"A little birdy just so happened to let it slip, I suppose?" Matty's eyebrow rose. Sally smiled.

"Tweet, tweet." Jack's mouth gaped open. He knew Sally was implacable under Mac's most thunderous rages, but she went toe to toe with Matty the Hun? Holeee Shit. Jack's surprise grew when both women laughed.

"Shut your mouth, Dalton, you'll sprain something." Jack snapped his mouth shut then narrowed his eyes. He'd been set up. Matty patted his leg; her expression grew serious, "I need you here, Jack." Jack grinned and slammed his right fist into his left hand.

"I'm ready to give them a solid knuckle sandwich boss. Let me at them." Matty rolled her eyes.

"Easy, tiger, remember the deal you made with Doc Carl." Sally said a firm hand fell on Jack's shoulder. Jack couldn't twist enough to glare at her directly, "You stay off those legs and I won't have to break them."

"It's hard to be intimidating from a chair!" Jack said trying to twist farther. Sally laughed.

"Narc." He growled. Sally bent to his ear.

"You can be intimidating from a baby's crip, Jack, I believe in you." Jack sank back mollified.

"Don't worry, Jack. I don't need your intimidation, I got plenty of my own." Jack had to concede that was true.

"Why-?" Matty nodded at the TAC guard.

"I need your mutant ability to piss off anyone in under a minute." Matty said sending a smile over her shoulder. Jack growled as Sally pushed him toward the door. She paused leaning over again.

"I'll take care of Mac, you take care of these assholes." Jack smiled a dangerous smile. With Sally's tone of voice, maybe they should let her at the evil husband-wife team. Jack patted her hand.

"You can count on that, Sally."

Jack gave the pair chained to the table the full force of his glare. Otto Raines and his wife, Judith, shrank back. Jack smiled like a hawk circling a rat ready to tear a rat to pieces. The TAC guard eased Jack against the table. Jack's constant ache in his thigh and knee pulsed with his anger.

"You are going to tell us-"

"Anything! Ask us anything!" Otto begged. Judith leaned forward.

"Just promise you'll protect us." Jack met Matty's gaze. Usually it was a little harder than that to break a suspect. Jack studied the pair. They were bedraggled with torn clothes and greasy hair. They had dark circles around their eyes and had a haunted jumpiness. Jack leaned back. He'd seen that before. He glanced over at Matty.

"Psych-ops." He mouthed. Matty nodded. She leaned forward. Her face showed no compassion.

"Who are you afraid of?" Otto leaned forward tears trailing down his wide cheeks.

"This is all her, you have to understand-"

"Who?"

"Please, you have to keep her-"

"WHO?" Jack roared. He hit the table. The pair jumped and looked at him with plate-sized eyes. Jack wondered if they'd just pissed himself. The pair shared a look, neither wanting to speak. Finally, Judith answered her eyes focused on her folded hands chained to the table.

"Daphne, my sister."

Mac hadn't been a virgin when he hooked up with Daphne, but he hadn't exactly been experienced either. Even if he had been, he wouldn't have been ready for someone like her. She was gorgeous, better looking than anyone Mac had ever seen in person. She was elegant and charming and lured him in like a Black Widow. It had been a wild night. Daphne burned with an unchained fire. Mac had fallen in completely. The next day he was ground down to a nub, exhausted and couldn't stop grinning. Back then Mac was a vulnerable open nerve; she played it like a harp. He didn't love her. He...he had no idea how he felt about her. Mac imagined being with her was what it felt like to shoot heroin for the first time.

Mac moaned and tried to push her away. The bed rails rattled quietly. His muscles had no strength. Everything was dimming, breathing was hard.

"You stood beside Daddy in that stupid hobo coat...it was the worst, how could you stand the itch? Good practice for ants, I guess." Daphne laughed and cupped Mac's face. He thrashed his head.

"Nng!" Daphne laughed. Mac froze. It was pure delight in his pain. Mac gasped glaring at her with all his dwindling strength. Daphne straightened in bed and sat up.

"I'm truly sorry, Angus." Mac's eyebrows raised.

"Mngat?" Daphne smiled. It was surprisingly sweet. Mac's eyes darted around him.

"I know, there's all that evil shit I did to you, but it wasn't me. Not exactly. See Daddy picked you. You got some impossibly high score on some test or other. He'd been combing through the ranks of all the military branches, but you were the one. I didn't see what he saw, not at first. You were a pimply freckled puppy, but that night. You proved me wrong, didn't you, darling?"

"You were supposed to stay in the unit then you'd go through the same tests the others did but someone pulled some strings and off you went. I was really, really irritated." Her hand pressed down on his windpipe her nails digging deep into his flesh. Mac tried to buck free. She bent over him and kissed his lips. Everything wobbled into darkness.

"I'm sorry, lover. I don't react well to someone ghosting me." Daphne whispered. Mac's eyes slid shut.

"My father targeted Mac. He was doing experiments on soldiers of all types to see their ability to adapt to painful stimuli and trying situations-"

"Torture." Matty snarled. Judith ducked her head and nodded.

"I was the head of his research study."

"And you worked your way up to the Wendell Kells name?" Jack leaned back and crossed his arms. His eyes didn't waver from the fat man's sweaty face. Raines wouldn't meet his eyes. He shook his head.

"Wendell Kells was a cover provided by the CIA."

"Daddy was Kells' special effects designer...sort of." Jack glanced at Matty.

"Kells wasn't you're father?"

"No, Colonel Justin Marks was my dad. Kells was…"

"My grandfather." Otto said his eyes lifting to look at Jack. Jack blinked seeing the similarities in his head.

"The old coot I killed was Kells?"

"A legend and you...you don't know…" Jack leaned forward his eyes narrowing. Raines whimpered and curled into a smaller ball.

"Get back to Daphne." Matty demanded. Otto and Judith shared a panicked look.

"Daddy used us to set up his experiments, lure the guys in," Judith smiled, "It was fun really." Jack's jaw clenched and he almost launched across the table. Judith almost fell out of her chair.

"You think making innocent soldiers kill themselves then mutilating their corpses and torturing people is fun?" Matty yelled. Even Jack jumped at the naked anger in the woman's voice.

"No! No, that's not what I meant. Me and my sisters were encouraged to gather...data on the subjects. Measurements, tolerance to stimuli, reaction times…"

"They weren't mice!" Jack roared.

"I...I...we know, no one was ever supposed to get hurt; it wasn't ever supposed to become so…" Otto stuttered. Jack huffed leaning on the table trying to stop the room from cartwheeling. Matty grabbed his arm.

"Sit down, Jack." She said softly guiding him back to his wheelchair. Jack blinked at her blankly. He hadn't realized he'd stood up. He plopped back a lot more ungracefully than he wanted. He rubbed his face with his hands.

"Why Mac?" Jack asked his voice tired. Otto and Judith shared a worried look. Judith gulped.

"I don't know. Daphne was obsessed by him, like an addict."

"When we found out he was being transferred...she flipped out."

"No, it was before that. At the party, remember?"

"What party?" Matty asked.

"The last Halloween party at Sleepy Hollow Green. It was a wild night, but completely fake."

"How can you fake a party?" Jack demanded. His frustration came through.

"Mac...the whole point was to bring him in. We were all there for him. Fiona, Daphne and I all flirted with him, but Daphne…"

"She's a frigging vampire." Otto said shaking his head.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know, she casts a spell over men...it got really bad." Judith said. Her blue eyes stared into the distance. Jack glanced at Matty.

"Spill it." Matty snapped. Judith jumped.

"All of the guys fought over her. The tests they'd been through…they snapped. They…" Judith swallowed tears falling.

"The bomb?" Judith laughed.

"Bomb? There was no bomb."

"We saw-another set up." Jack realized.

"It was a cover. No one knew until after the fire...Mac and Daphne had left early. The subjects thought Fiona was her and they-" Judith turned away. Jack sank back.

"Dad was killed. Mama went nuts. We...we started new and tried to forget. We thought Daphne was dead."

"All of the soldiers disappeared one by one, killed themselves. We had no idea Daphne was capable of-" Otto said rubbing his face.

"She took the bodies and made up the sick dioramas?" Judith nodded.

"Her, Otto's granddad, and Mom came up with all this. We, we were prisoners. Locked up in the lab and manufacturing-they forced us to help make the robots, the models, the...do you know how many times I killed Mac?" Judith began to cry. She tried to reach out for Jack. Jack hissed and pulled his hands back.

"Daphne worked Daddy's contacts and gave a lot of information to the military and CIA."

"She was an agent."

"An agent, an assassin, a high cost call girl…" Otto shook his head and looked away from Judith who glared at him.

"Where's your psycho sister now." Otto and Judith shared a worried look.

"We don't know. I know she had spies here…" Jack's heart dropped. He shoved the wheelchair back and swayed to his feet. He looked at Matty panic on his face.

"MAC!" He screamed as he turned and hobbled out of the room. He lurched to the TAC agent and grabbed the man's radio before he could move.

"Alpha one to all squads. Intruder alert, code red medical." Jack threw one arm over the agent's shoulder.

"MOVE!" He yelled. Half- carrying Jack the black garbed agent took off at a dead sprint. Jack gritted his teeth and forced his legs to move. Matty was on her own radio snapping orders as she stormed to the war room.

Sally took off her coat and tossed it on her chair in the nurse's station. She glanced at Laura who bent over a salad as she charted on the computer.

"Doc Carl go home?"

"About an hour ago." Laura croaked. She smirked at the head nurse, "Tired of dealing with cranky sick Phoenix employees no doubt." Sally rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to answer when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She narrowed her eyes. A blonde woman she didn't know walked toward the elevator.

"Who's that?" Sally asked softly. Laura looked up and shot a worried look at Sally.

"She said she was an intern-"

"We don't have any-Mac! Call Jack! Get to Mac! I'll deal with this bitch." Sally called over her shoulder. She tossed her stethoscope and ID card on the desk and took off at a sprint. The blonde spun and smiled at Sally setting herself for a fight. She obviously had some training. Sally smiled. Sure Ms. bitch probably had been trained by the best, but she never had to wrangle a 14 year old with a crush on one Jack Dalton.

Sally let out a roar and barrelled into the woman tackling her. The woman tried to roll Sally onto her back. Sally growled and socked the blonde with a four right-left combo. The woman lashed out and landed a knife hand across Sally's throat. Sally managed to duck her chin and winced feeling her teeth smash together.

The assassin rolled to her feet gracefully and slammed her boot down. Sally managed to shift her head. Tears came to her eyes when the bitch's shoe stomped on her hair. Sally formed a knuckle strike fist and slammed it into the back of the woman's knee where a thick nerve cluster rested. The woman screamed in pain and reached for her knee. Sally rolled onto her back, kicked the woman in the gut with both feet. The blonde screamed reached down her claws scratching like talons. Sally turned her head away. She ignored the sting of her scratched cheek and grabbed handfuls of blonde hair rolled and smashed the woman's face into the tile twice.

Sally rose to her knees grabbed the bitch's chin with one hand, the back of her head with the other and shrugged into a firm twist. She was surprised at how hard it was to get good torque. Jack made it look easy. When she heard the grinding crunch and felt the splintering of spinal bones, Sally dropped the corpse and staggered to her feet. She wiped her mouth and stared at the dead woman. She'd never killed anyone before. She wasn't sure how she felt about it.

"Sally!" Sally straightened and looked up as Jack and Felix, one of the TAC agents, ran down the hall in an awkward three legged run.

"Jack! What are you doing on that leg?" Jack gaped at Daphne's corpse. He slowed and stared at Sally then at Daphne then at Sally. He stepped closer and put a hand on Sally's arm.

"Sally, are you ok?" Sally looked deep into his calm dark eyes. She almost cried at the worry and wisdom she saw there. Sally swallowed and nodded. She put her hand on Jack's. His was so warm and steady under hers. Sally took a shaky breath then grinned.

"Nobody fucks with my MacGyver." She stated. Jack smiled and squeezed her shoulder silently letting her know he was there to talk when she was ready.

"SALLY!" Laura screamed. Sally's eyes widened.

"No…" She ran into Mac's room Jack and his living crutch on her heels. Sally skidded to a halt. Mac's eyes were wide and he writhed in bed, still confused and fevered. Laura straddled him and fought to hold his hands to keep him from touching the bomb strapped across his chest.

"Shit." Jack growled. The digital timer said 30 seconds and the only one who could diffuse it in time was lost in a world of fever dreams.


	25. Chapter 25

Can't breathe. Weight holding him down. Suffocation-drowning! Mac cried out and tried to twist free. Hands held him down. Darkness. Jack! Jack, why won't you help me?

"Mac, I'm here. I need your help, please wake up." No couldn't be...couldn't...Jack can't get to him, coffin...CAN'T BREATHE! JACK.

"Mac, shhh brother. I need you to wake up, now." Mac frowned. Jack only used that tone when they were about to die. Mac blinked and gasped in a quick breath. Hands held his head, a face leaned close to his. It was blurry but had the unique Jack smell and shape and...Mac reached out-a face, arm, shirt, solid-Jack! Jack was real!

Jack winced at the grooves Mac's fingernails dug into his arm. He fought not to look at the timer. Mac smiled and opened his mouth to talk.

"Mac, I'm super glad you know I'm here. But we are 20 seconds from blowing up-"

"Blo-bomb? There's a bomb?" Mac's whisper was breathless, he was having a hard time focusing and his eyes dropped.

"Yeah, you have to disarm it or we and most of Phoenix goes kaboom." Mac licked his lips frowning. Every second felt shorter and shorter.

"Where?" Jack was relieved. Mac's eyes were more alert. Jack took Mac's hand and guided it to his own chest. Mac's eyes widened.

"How did it get there?" Ok, not completely alert yet. Jack would take what he could.

"It's complicated. You have to-"

"Disarm, right." Mac's eyes sank closed. Jack moved to slap Mac, when he noticed that Mac's hands ran nimbly along the device strapped to his chest. Mac winced as he pressed on a ball of wire. He opened his eyes.

"What color are the wires?"

"Black."

"All of them?"

"Yeah." Mac leaned back taking in a stilted breath. Jack could see the stress of his partner trying to think. He opened his eyes.

"Sally?"

"I'm here."

"Med...cart." Sally spun and dashed into the hall. Jack felt sweat crawl down his body. There wasn't enough time...Wheels thumped as Sally spun a cot in. Mac reached out for the infrared scanner the nurses used to scan the patient's meds. Mac took a shaky breath, spun and smashed the scanner against the bed rail. The plastic case cracked. Mac peeled it apart with shaking hands. He squinted at the small circuit board and pulled something out. He shot Jack a look the older man knew too well.

"Mac-" Mac placed the scanner against the body of the bomb beside the bump of black wires and pulled the trigger. Mac's eyes closed and he grimaced in pain. His body shook as the red light, now much thicker lanced through the bomb. Jack stared at the bomb startled. There was a flash a pop then a steady stream of smoke rising from the device. The digital countdown darkened. Mac's hand went limp.

"You did it." Jack breathed. He grinned at Sally. "He did it!" Sally grinned and sagged into the recliner beside the bed feeling evaporated; she bounced back up to check on her patient. Jack brushed hair away from Mac's slack face. He shot Sally a worried look. Sally put a hand on Jack's shoulder to support them both.

"He's unconscious." She breathed.

"He ain' the only one." Laura said from behind them. The pair turned they had forgotten the older nurse. Laura bent over Felix who had fallen over out cold. Jack and Sally shared a look and burst out laughing. It was finally over.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Jack slowly paced Mac's room stretching his arms and shoulders as he limped. It was good to be able to walk without everything blinking out or feeling like his legs had been sawed off. He stopped by the bed and gazed down at his partner. Mac's fever had slowly decreased. Now he was only a little warmer than normal. Jack's worry hadn't eased. It had been three days since they'd all almost blown up and Mac hadn't woken up yet.

Jack was thrilled the kid wasn't screaming out for him anymore-especially not in that heartbreaking cry of abandonment. Mac was finally getting decent rest, but he laid there pale as his sheets wrapped like a mummy unmoving. Jack swallowed and started pacing again. He looked like one of the dead robomacs. Jack paused to check the pulse in Mac's neck. He did it more than the nurses and doctors. He had to reassure himself he still wasn't in another sick dream, that Mac hadn't died in a coffin, alone, abandoned…

"Hey, Jack." Jack jumped and spun. Sally smiled at him. Jack frowned. Sally had been on leave while the suits evaluated everything that happened. Her usual sparkle was gone. She hadn't been in to see Mac since she left the night she'd been forced to kill someone. Jack hadn't gone to see her because of his own wounds and the endless circus of paperwork that came with a cluster like this week had been. Riley, Bozer, Matty and Laura had all taken turns hanging out at the nurse's house.

Riley had told Jack that she'd been doing as well as she could. Jack winced at the brief flash of pain in Riley's eyes. It wasn't so long ago that Riley had come to him in the same situation. Jack decided to let Sally come to him, if she wanted to.

"You must be getting bored. You want to up business by giving me a heart attack." Sally laughed, it was forced. She crossed to Mac's side and took the blonde's limp hand, "Doc Carl is getting worried that he hasn't woken up yet, but he's lived a horror movie so I figure his body's taking a timeout." Sally didn't answer. She stared at Mac's face. Sally wiped her face. Jack was surprised. Sally was threadbare, and about to crack.

Jack sat in the recliner and leaned forward. Sally sat side-saddle on Mac's bed and busied herself straightening his pillow and covers. Jack caught her hand. She slumped then slowly looked up.

"Jack, I killed another person." She whispered trying to pull her hand away. Jack didn't let go. He waited. Sally spoke faster, "I'd seen you do it without flinching...I knew I had to, but...it was so easy. Not the neck breaking part, that took a lot more muscle than I thought it would, but the decision...instead of kicking her or sitting on her or...I grabbed her head and twisted...I...deliberately...on purpose, with deliberation...killed…" Sally's words ran out. She stared into space, her face empty and overflowing with self disgust and surprise all at once. She met Jack's eyes, "How does that ever go away?"

"It never does Sally. You will always remember how her skin felt, how she felt in your arms, the crunch...all of it will be there just past the corner of your eye ready to comeback when you least expect it. It'll never heal over and lose its impact. I do promise you it helps to talk and have someone help you carry it."

"Is that how you do it?" Sally looked at him, her tears running like blood out of her Mediterranean blue eyes. Jack sighed and rubbed his head. Riley had asked him the same thing.

"In a way," Jack looked deep into Sally's eyes waiting until he knew she was focused on him, "The first time... it was different for me. I was surrounded by other kids in the same boat. It's easy to kill as a job when bullets and explosions are banging around you. But the first time I had to face it in silence...Yeah, Sally. If I hadn't talked to someone I would have gone insane." Sally frowned. This time it was Jack who looked away.

"It doesn't bother you now?" Jack heard the question under the question.

"Sometimes." He answered honestly. Jack looked over at Mac, "When I'm protecting what I love-no it doesn't bother me at all. But there are other times…" Jack closed his eyes. He felt Sally's hand on his knee.

"You do what has to be done, Jack." Jack's smile was sad.

"So did you. I do what I do because I can, so others don't have to...I'm so sorry, Sally." Sally's lip quivered. She reached forward and Jack wrapped her in a hug. He could feel her shaking. Jack pulled her closer and ran his hand through her hair murmuring soothing things. Sally backed off and pulled a wad of tissues out of her purse. Jack waited quietly. Sally smiled at him.

"Thanks, Jack."

"Anytime, Sally...I mean it, if you ever want to talk-" Sally squeezed his hand.

"I know. I will," Sally sniffed and blew her nose. She glanced at Mac then looked at Jack some of the wicked gleam, "Now I see what the big deal is." Jack frowned and leaned back as if she'd slapped him.

"What?"

"Well, Riley, Bozer, Mac and Sam...they have to love you for something more than your fashion sense and cool hair." Jack grinned.

"You think my hair is cool?" Sally leaned forward and kissed Jack on the cheek.

"Sometimes, my friend, sometimes." Sally put a hand on Jack's shoulder as she stood up.

"I'm glad to have you in my family." She said softly. Jack stood and gave her another hug.

"Back atcha, kiddo." Sally smiled gave Mac a kiss on the cheek then left. Jack sat back down shaking his head.

"Night...mare." Jack's head snapped around to Mac who looked up at him groggily. Jack grinned and leaned forward.

"About time you woke up, brother. I was getting a little worried." Mac blinked slowly, "What do you mean nightmare?" Mac rolled onto his side facing Jack. The corners of his lips quirked into a tired smile.

"Had nightmare...you and Sally...were making out…" Jack's face flushed. At the amusement in Mac's eyes, he knew the blonde had seen it. This made Jack's face get even redder. Mac reached out and took Jack's hand in his.

" 's ok, brother." Mac slurred his eyes falling half closed. Jack leaned forward and gently brushed Mac's hair back from his face. Mac sighed and seemed to melt into the bed.

"Maybe I should marry her." Mac cracked his eyes and raised his eyebrow in confusion. Jack chuckled.

"She thinks my hair is cool."

" 's lying."

"Sally wouldn't lie to me, not about my hair." Mac managed to half glare at Jack.

" 's evil."

"Not to me, she likes me." Mac huffed then relaxed into sleep. Jack smiled fondly and ran his fingers through Mac's hair. Jack leaned forward and kissed Mac softly on the forehead. Mac absently swatted at him. Mac grumbled something, but Jack lost it to the pillow.

"I know we don't do mushy kid, but I seriously love you and was scared to death. Losing you...that's the worst nightmare in existence." Mac hummed. Jack wiped his eyes. He felt Mac squeeze his hand.

" 'mnutoo." He mumbled. Jack laid his head on the mattress and drifted off to sleep his hand never leaving his brother's.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Alrighty then, the horror movie has ended people. I can't thank you enough for reading and commenting, favoriting and following. I put in allusions to many of my favorite horror movies and gleefully tormented our boys at the same time. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. I'm sorry the past few stories I hadn't left any thanks for you loyal readers-THANK YOU! If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be writing. And any improvements in my writing is completely thanks to your comments! I am prepping for Tempest, and you never know what might pop out between now and then-Hugs + Blessings, Pox


End file.
